On July 9, 2026, Dr. Thang Minh Cao, Deputy Head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City (Socialist Republic of Vietnam), defended her thesis for the degree of Candidate of Medical Sciences in the specialty 3.2.2. "Epidemiology" at St. Petersburg State University. The thesis topic was "Justification of the patterns of spread of the COVID-19 epidemic process during the pandemic in Southern Vietnam". The members of the dissertation council noted the extensive work completed and the high level of the results presented.
From 2021 to 2024, Dr. Thang Minh Cao was assigned to St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute to conduct her thesis research (supervised by Dr. Vladimir Dedkov, MD, and Dr. Anna Gladkikh, PhD, Biology).
The thesis of Dr.Thang Minh Caoanalyzes the COVID-19 epidemic and evaluates the effectiveness of anti-epidemic measures in South Vietnam. This work provides the first comprehensive analysis of the COVID-19 epidemic in South Vietnam from 2020 to 2022, examines the genetic diversity of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, and characterizes mutations in the virus's S gene, assessing their epidemiological significance. Of particular importance are the results of serological studies, which allowed for the assessment of the development of herd immunity among the region's population. This work also provides the first assessment of the effectiveness of preventive measures applied at different stages of the pandemic, taking into account the shift in the dominant variant.
