This milestone marks a significant achievement in the long and dedicated journey of a physician and educator who has remained deeply committed to the noble mission of medicine, consistently striving to inspire, train, and nurture the next generation of medical professionals.
A calling to medicine…
For Assoc. Prof. Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn, one can easily perceive a harmonious integration of medical ethics, clinical expertise, and an unwavering spirit of dedication. He was born in Sơn Tịnh Commune, Quảng Ngãi Province, but grew up in Hàm Tân, Bình Thuận Province (born in 1977). Despite early-life challenges, he successfully passed the entrance examinations to five universities and ultimately chose to pursue his calling at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City. During his six years of undergraduate medical training, he had to undertake various part-time jobs while maintaining rigorous academic performance. In 2001, he graduated as a General Practitioner. He then successfully entered the Residency Training Program and completed his specialization in Urology in 2005. From that point, he was retained as a faculty member and academic officer in the Department of Urology at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, while also working as a clinician at Binh Dan Hospital.
Driven by a strong commitment to academic advancement and professional excellence, he completed his Master’s degree in 2008 and successfully defended his Doctoral dissertation in 2018 in the field of Renal and Urological Surgery at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City.
In parallel with his teaching responsibilities at the Department of Urology, he continued his clinical practice at Binh Dan Hospital, where he held several key positions, including Head of the Uro-Genital Endovascular Intervention Unit (2016-2017), Head of the Department of Advanced Kidney Stone Surgery (2019-2025) and since March 2025, Head of the Department of Urology at the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City. He is also currently the Head of the Urology Department at the School of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City.
He shared: “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City, and especially Binh Dan Hospital - where I spent 22 years of my youth, learning, training, and growing into who I am today”.
Leadership of the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City commending Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn.
Alongside his dual roles as physician and educator, Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn is actively engaged in professional associations, serving as General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Urology and Nephrology Association (HUNA), Head of Communications of the Vietnam Urology and Nephrology Association (VUNA) Executive Committee, and President of the Ho Chi Minh City Urology and Nephrology Society.
Teacher – Physician of abundant energy with deep medical scholarship
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn, medical ethics and clinical expertise must always go hand in hand. For medical professionals, true fulfillment comes from meaningful contributions to patient care, as well as to the training and development of students and trainees.
In his role as a lecturer and as Head of the Department of Urology at the School of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, he consistently emphasizes the integration of theoretical knowledge with clinical practice. His lectures are designed with an innovative approach, fostering independent thinking, teamwork skills, and self-directed learning among students. He strives to ensure that undergraduate students, postgraduate trainees, residents, specialists, and doctoral candidates are not only equipped with foundational knowledge but also exposed to updated, practice-oriented clinical issues aligned with current medical demands.
As a treating physician and Head of the Department of Urology at the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn is highly respected by both colleagues and patients for his dedication, composure, and strong sense of responsibility. He is widely recognized by patients from Ho Chi Minh City and other regions for his expertise in the diagnosis, surgical management, and treatment of renal, urological, and andrological disorders. Notably, he has contributed significantly to numerous successful kidney transplantation cases at both Binh Dan Hospital and the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City.
Joy of Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn – Head of the Department of Urology, University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City; General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Urology and Nephrology Association; Executive Committee Member of the Vietnam Urology and Nephrology Association – upon receiving the title of “Outstanding Intellectual” in 2025.
In addition to his clinical and teaching responsibilities, he devotes considerable effort to scientific research. His research agenda focuses on four main directions:
Research Direction 1: Minimally invasive treatment of nephrolithiasis and in-depth analysis of stone composition: This line of research includes: (1) continuous refinement and standardization of minimally invasive procedures for kidney stone management; (2) development of a national database on urinary stone composition in Vietnamese patients and (3) analysis of correlations between stone composition, clinical and imaging characteristics, and treatment outcomes, thereby proposing effective, sustainable, and personalized kidney stone management strategies.
Research Direction 2: Diagnosis and treatment of urological tumors toward personalized medicine: This research focuses on both benign and malignant urological tumors, with an emphasis on disease biology and individualized treatment strategies. It represents a long-term research priority aimed at improving diagnostic accuracy, optimizing therapeutic approaches, and enhancing patient prognosis in Vietnam.
Research Direction 3: Application of endovascular interventions and interventional imaging in urological diseases: This direction includes standardizing technical protocols, expanding indications for endovascular interventions, and strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration with diagnostic imaging specialists, thereby improving treatment quality in urology practice in Vietnam.
Research Direction 4: Application of laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgery in complex urological conditions: This research focuses on optimizing minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgical techniques, particularly for complex cases requiring oncological control and preservation of urogenital function.
To date, he has supervised more than ten Master’s and specialist-level theses, served as principal investigator for three institutional-level research projects, and published nearly 90 scientific papers, including numerous articles in international journals indexed in ISI/Scopus databases. He has also co-authored and published three textbooks of significant practical value widely used by students and trainees: General Reproductive Medicine (2020), Emergency Medicine for Common Conditions in the Elderly (2023), and Geriatric Pathology - Volume 1 (2025). In recognition of his academic and professional contributions, in 2025 he was officially accredited by the State Council for Professorship as meeting the standards for the title of Associate Professor in Medicine in the field of Medical Science.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn and his surgical team successfully performing a kidney transplant operation.
Always fully dedicated to his work
What makes Assoc. Prof. Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn highly respected by colleagues, students, and patients is not only his academic title, professional qualifications, or scientific achievements, but also his sincere, modest lifestyle and his wholehearted dedication to his work.
In every position he has held, he has actively participated in educational reform initiatives and programs aimed at improving professional training quality. At the same time, he has promoted scientific research and strengthened hospital–university collaboration. He has also maintained strong connections with professional societies to support charitable activities, assist students in difficult circumstances, and sponsor students’ participation in specialized conferences to explore the field of Urology and Andrology. In him, one can see the rigor of a scientist, the compassionate heart of a physician, and the inspiring passion of a dedicated educator.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Đỗ Anh Toàn consistently carries within himself a strong aspiration to contribute and to share in the suffering of patients and the wider community. He leaves behind a beautiful impression of a generation of educators devoted to their specialty, physicians fully committed to patient care, and individuals quietly contributing to the advancement of Vietnam’s medical sector in the era of artificial intelligence.
By Việt Hùng
