The lack of qualified Human Resources is one of the biggest weaknesses of Vietnamese’s Health Care system: there are only 1,2 medical doctors per 1000 inhabitants, while EU average indicator is 3.3 per 1000 inhabitants. The low number of doctors comes from limited capacity of universities to prepare and train medical professionals, the available staff resources are distributed unequally among specialties, geographical areas and levels. To address these problems, the project has two primary aims:• To improve the teaching skills and research infrastructure of Vietnamese HEIs in the field of medicine through pedagogical training and technical assistance • To improve the quality of Vietnamese HEIs and enhance their relevance for the labor market and society in the field of Medicine by establishing a high quality interdisciplinary PhD curriculum in Molecular Medicine Achieving these objectives would increase the capacity of Vietnamese universities so they can provide high quality training of medical doctors and fill an important labor market gap while meeting multiple societal needs such as improved health for citizens. In the long-term, in addition to producing more doctors, the Medical PhD program – the 1st of its kind in Vietnam - would produce skilled researchers to engage in internationally competitive research. The focus on transferable skills for faculty and students will make them more competitive in the labor market. Graduates would also serve as future teachers, thus increasing the number of faculty with PhDs. The training provided to faculties and students will also prepare them to think more entrepreneurialy and be given networking opportunities with the Vietnamese and European healthcare industry. All of this activity will take place in 3 regions that have been targeted as in need of development by the Vietnamese government.