Hello from Vietnam! ACC President Doug Weaver and I are here with an impressive ACC delegation to the ASEAN Congress of Cardiology.

What a phenomenal opportunity for the ACC to reach out to our colleagues across Asia. There is great interest here in collaborating on joint educational efforts. Two-thirds of males smoke here. And public school is only funded by the government through about 6th grade -- but they will expand funding through high school in about 5 years. Traffic (mostly motorbikes) is indescribably complicated.

But it’s very entrepreneurial for a socialist country. Health care is mostly cash on the line beyond basic public health services. But the progress toward a sophisticated society is moving along swiftly. It is a very safe and low-crime environment. Wonderfully warm people. ASEAN nations truly want to collaborate more with ACC, and have asked that we consider helping them with medical society-building efforts and leadership training. They're also interested in more scientific collaboration with JACC (ACC's journal) as well.

From here, we’re off to Beijing for our third annual Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology collaboration, which expects 6,000 attendees. Check back for more!

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