Tho Nguyen

MD · MPH | Head, International Cooperation Unit · Researcher

Contact Information

📧 Email: thon@donga.edu.vn
📱 Phone: (+84) 906 432 742
📍 Location: Da Nang, Vietnam
🏛️ Institute for International Research on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation (IAD), Dong A University
🔗 LinkedIn · ORCID iD · GitHub

Research Profile

Physician-researcher (MD, MPH) and Head of the International Cooperation Unit at the Institute for International Research on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation (IAD), Dong A University. Five years of experience in biostatistics and epidemiological research, and three years applying machine learning to health data, spanning child maltreatment, adolescent mental health, and chronic disease risk prediction.

Lead developer of an FT-Transformer model for high-risk diabetes classification in women (Springer, 2026). Coordinates international collaborative research with the University of Lille (France) and Swiss-Vietnamese teams funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and has organized 10+ international scientific conferences with 1,000+ delegates and 100+ international speakers.

Research Interests

  • Child maltreatment, domestic violence, and adolescent mental health epidemiology
  • Machine learning and transformer models for risk prediction in chronic disease (diabetes)
  • Causal inference and network analysis methods for observational health data
  • Health systems research and reproducible research methodology

Education

Master of Public Health (MPH) — GPA 3.36 / 4.0 (2022–2024)
Hanoi University of Public Health, Vietnam

  • Thesis: Experiences of maltreatment and their association with depression: findings from a student survey in eight lower secondary schools in Bac Giang Province, 2023.
  • Methods: Logistic regression, SEM, path analysis (R); survey design using KoboToolbox.
  • Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thanh Huong, PhD
  • Degree Focus: Epidemiology, biostatistics, clinical research methodology, public health surveillance.

Medical Doctor (MD) in Preventive Medicine (2014–2020)
Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam

Research Experience

Head, International Cooperation Unit & Researcher (2023–Present)
Institute for International Research on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation (IAD), Dong A University

  • Coordinated and organized 10+ international scientific conferences with more than 1,000 delegates and 100+ international speakers, promoting interdisciplinary research collaboration in artificial intelligence and health sciences.
  • Managed an international internship program on health data science in collaboration with the University of Lille (France), mentoring and supporting more than 30 master’s students in research methodology, R/Python programming, and academic exchange.
  • Web Chair and Programme Committee Member for 10+ international conferences (RAIDS, ISSAT, SmartLife); hosted a special session on Responsible AI in Health (RAIDS Conference 2024).

Lead Researcher — FT-Transformer Diabetes Classification (2023–2025)
Institute for International Research on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation (IAD), Dong A University · Collaboration: University of Lille (France)

  • Developed a novel FT-Transformer architecture enhanced with KNN imputation and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for classifying high-risk diabetes in women from tabular clinical data.
  • Achieved state-of-the-art performance on the PIMA Indian Diabetes dataset; results published as first-author in Springer LNICST (RAIDS 2024) and presented at the ISSAT Data Science Conference 2025.
  • Implemented full ML pipeline in Python: feature engineering, cross-validation, hyperparameter tuning, model interpretability (SHAP).
  • Extended analysis to an interpretable clinical decision-making system; second paper published at ICASI 2025 (IET).

Data Analyst — Swiss-Vietnamese Collaborative Research Project (2023–Present)
Swiss-Vietnamese Collaborative Study on Child Maltreatment

  • Designed and deployed complex online survey instruments on KoboToolbox (Vietnam) and Unipark (Switzerland), capturing maltreatment screening data from 1,200+ secondary school students across 8 schools.
  • Managed, cleaned, and processed large-scale multi-national datasets in R, building reproducible data pipelines for the study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and NAFOSTED (Grant IZVSZ1.203300).
  • Applied logistic regression, SEM, and path analysis to identify predictors of child maltreatment and depression.
  • Collaborated bilaterally with Swiss and Vietnamese post-doctoral teams on manuscripts for international journals and scientific conferences.
  • Contributed to IRB/ethics submissions and data governance protocols in compliance with Swiss and Vietnamese regulations.

Primary Researcher — MPH Thesis Study (2022–2024)
Hanoi University of Public Health

  • Designed and executed a cross-sectional epidemiological study of maltreatment experiences and depression in 1,200+ adolescents at 8 secondary schools in Bac Giang Province.
  • Led the full research cycle: ethics approval, survey instrument design, data collection coordination, statistical analysis, and manuscript preparation.
  • Primary analysis: multivariate logistic regression, SEM, path analysis in R.

Scientific Secretary (2021)
Family Hospital, Scientific Research Subcommittee, Da Nang

  • Monitored and supported the implementation of medical research activities and clinical treatment procedures.
  • Performed data analysis and supported research proposal development, and contributed to organizing hospital scientific workshops and evaluating provincial-level research projects.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Nguyen T, Bui TP, Nguyen TP, Dinh TH, Vu TTM, Nguyen TQC, Nguyen TH, Le MT. (2024). Injuries caused by physical maltreatment among 7th- and 9th-grade students: a cross-sectional study at eight lower secondary schools in Bac Giang Province in 2024. Vietnam Journal of Preventive Medicine, 34(06):159–167. https://doi.org/10.51403/0868-2836/2024/1935

Le MT, Bui TP, Nguyen TP, Dinh TH, Vu TTM, Nguyen TQC, Nguyen T, Nguyen TH. (2024). A review of risk and protective factors for child maltreatment among children aged 13–15 years from 2005 to 2023. Vietnam Journal of Preventive Medicine, 34(06):9–16. https://doi.org/10.51403/0868-2836/2024/1916

Le MT, Nguyen T, Nguyen MA, Dinh TH, Nguyen TQC, Nguyen TP, Bui TP, Vu TTM, Nguyen TH. (2023). How KoboToolbox versus Unipark platform are selected in data survey to detect child maltreatment in Vietnam: a discussion paper. Journal of Health and Development Studies, 7(04):155–162. https://doi.org/10.38148/JHDS.0704SKPT23-062

Nguyen T, Vy TTK. (2019). Current status of Internet use for seeking health information among pregnant women and mothers with children under 2 years old in Huong Long Ward, Hue City in 2019. Journal of Community Medicine, 1(48):72–77.

Under Review / In Press

Nguyen T, Dinh HT, Bui TP, Nguyen HT, Le TM. Household dysfunction and academic pressure as correlates of cumulative child maltreatment among Vietnamese adolescents: a cross-sectional study. Child Abuse & Neglect. (Q1, submitted)

Le TM, Nguyen T, Nguyen HT. Peer victimization and depressive symptoms among Vietnamese adolescents: a large cross-sectional school-based study. Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health. (Q1, peer review)

Le TM, Nguyen T, Dinh HT, Nguyen TH. Lifetime prevalence of child maltreatment types among adolescents: evidence from a large-scale digital school-based survey in Vietnam. BMC Public Health. (Q1, under review)

Le TM, Nguyen T. When the disciplinarian is also the counselor: role boundaries and adolescent disclosure in Vietnamese school-based child protection. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. (Q1, under review)

Nguyen T, Le TM, Nguyen KD, Ngo AV. Prevalence and network analysis of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms among high school adolescents in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Current Psychology. (Q1, under consideration)

Nguyen T, Nguyen KD, Le TM, Ngo AV. Prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety, and stress severity among Vietnamese high school students: a cross-sectional study. Discover Public Health. (Q3, under review)

Wallimann MS, Dinh HT, Quehenberger J, Nguyen HT, Nguyen T, Le TM, Lötsch DC, Gabriel T. Disclosure of child physical abuse: a comparative study on prevalence and disclosure patterns in Switzerland and Vietnam. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. (Q1, accepted)

Book Chapters (Springer)

Nguyen T, Nguyen QT, Tran KD, Koehl L, Tran KP. Transformer-Based Models for Predicting High-Risk Diabetes in Women Using Tabular Data. In: Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. RAIDS 2024. LNICST, vol 673. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-14055-5_6

Le TM, Nguyen T, Dinh HT, Bui TP, Nguyen HT. Application of Digital Survey Tools to Screen for Child Maltreatment Among Secondary School Students in Vietnam. In: Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. RAIDS 2024. LNICST, vol 673. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-14055-5_3

Nguyen T, Nguyen DH, Nguyen QT, Tran KD, Tran KP. Human-Centered Edge AI and Wearable Technology for Workplace Health and Safety in Industry 5.0. In: Artificial Intelligence for Safety and Reliability Engineering: Methods, Applications, and Challenges, pp. 171–183. Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71495-5_8

Nguyen T, Tran KD, Raza A, Nguyen QT, Bui HM, Tran KP. Wearable Technology for Smart Manufacturing in Industry 5.0. In: Artificial Intelligence for Smart Manufacturing: Methods, Applications, and Challenges, pp. 225–254. Springer International Publishing, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30510-8_11

Conference Proceedings & Presentations

Le LH, Nguyen T, Koehl L. (2026, March). Textile IoTs: Toward Robust and Frugal AI Models for Capture and Analysis of Physiological Signals. Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, RAIDS 2026, LNICST, Springer, Cham. (In editing)

Le HDV, Dao HL, Nguyen T. (2025, April). Enhanced Transparency Clinical Decision-Making via Interpretable AI Model System. International Conference on Applied System Innovation (ICASI 2025), vol 2025, pp. 438–440. IET. https://doi.org/10.1049/icp.2025.2588

Nguyen T, Mai HX, Nguyen QT, Tran KD, Koehl L, Tran KP. A Comprehensive Approach to Tabular Data Classification: FT-Transformer Enhanced by KNN Imputation and ICA in Diabetes Classification. 3rd ISSAT International Conference on Data Science in Business, Finance and Industry, Da Nang, 6–8 Jan 2025.

Nguyen T, Tran KD, Raza A, Nguyen QT, Bui HM, Tran KP. Wearable Technology for Smart Manufacturing in Industry 5.0: Applications, Challenges, and Case Studies. 2nd ISSAT International Conference on Data Science in Business, Finance and Industry, Da Nang, 8–10 Jan 2023.

Conference Presentations & Posters

  • Nguyen T. A Comprehensive Approach to Tabular Data Classification: FT-Transformer Enhanced by KNN Imputation in Diabetes Classification. Oral presentation. ISSAT Data Science Conference 2025.
  • Nguyen T. Transformer-Based Models for Predicting High-Risk Diabetes in Women. Oral presentation. RAIDS Conference 2024.
  • Dinh HT, Le TM, Nguyen TP, Vu TTM, Bui TP,Nguyen T, Nguyen TQC, Nguyen TH. Child Maltreatment Among Secondary School Students in Vietnam. Poster. Global Young Scientists Summit, Singapore, 8–12 Jan 2024.

Funded Projects

Amount Project Period
82,500,000 VND Effectiveness of a health education and self-management program for blood glucose control among patients with type 2 diabetes at Da Nang General Hospital — The University of Da Nang 2026 – 2028
7,660,334,000 VND (~USD 291,345) NAFOSTED & SNSF — The role of schools in detecting and responding to child maltreatment: a collaborative approach to developing evidence-based policy in Switzerland and Vietnam (Grant No.: IZVSZ1.203300). Role: Data Analyst / Statistical Research Assistant 2022 – 2025
10,000,000 VND Scientific research project funding — Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy 2019

Technical Skills

Category Skills
Research Areas Mental health, child maltreatment, domestic violence, diabetes, health systems, optimization
Programming R, Python, SQL
Statistics & Analytics Causal machine learning, deep learning for tabular data, network analysis, statistical process control, path analysis, structural equation modeling, causal inference, bibliometric analysis, need/condition analysis
Epi Methods Cross-sectional, cohort, case-control designs; STROBE/CONSORT reporting; IRB protocol development
Research Management Proposal writing, survey instrument design, data management and quality assurance, project completion reporting, international conference coordination
Data Tools KoboToolbox, Unipark, SPSS, STATA, R Markdown / Quarto
Languages Vietnamese (native), English (B2 - IELTS)

Academic Service

  • Peer Reviewer: Journal of Science, Dong A University
  • Web Chair & Programme Committee Member: RAIDS, SmartLife, ISSAT, and 7+ other international conferences (2022–present)
  • Session Chair / Host: Special session on Responsible AI in Health, RAIDS Conference 2024

Training & Certifications

  • Data Foundations, 2022
  • Research and Proposal Writing, 2022
  • CITI Program — Human Subjects Research
  • COVID-19 Community Care, 2021

Tho Nguyen · Head, International Cooperation Unit · Researcher · thon@donga.edu.vn · Last updated: July 2026