Prof. Dr Vu Phuong Ly said: “In the world, there are many scientists working in different directions to find out the characteristics of cancer stem cells. My research is focused on the operating mechanism of cancer stem cells. I study the function of cancer stem cells, their difference from normal cells and how they can survive in human body ... From that, I want to develop a therapy targeting at this mechanism to destroy the cancer stem cells and stop the cancer to recur”.

The ASH Scholar Award is one of ASH's most prestigious research awards, providing financial support to scientists in the US and Canada, who pursue independent research directions on hematology.

Vu Phuong Ly's project has also been funded over 1 million dollars by the Government of Canada for a five-year period thanks to her highly meaningful research direction of high practical value.

Vu Phuong Ly was a talented undergraduate specializing in molecular biology and biochemistry at VNU University of Science. As a graduate, she got a scholarship from Vietnam Education Foundation for a PhD program at Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, under the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center in New York, USA. Each year, the school only admits from 10 to 12 students to specialize in in-depth cancer research. After her postdoctoral program at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Ly moved to Vancouver, Canada, to work as a professor at Simon Fraser University and also as a researcher at the Terry Fox Laboratory, under the British Columbia Cancer Research Center.

Ly's lab has also been cooperating with pharmaceutical companies in the US and Canada to develop drugs for blood cancer, which helps them understand each type of blood cancer to provide each patient with suitable medicine. Recently, Ly has returned to Vietnam for academic exchange. She was a speaker in several seminars at VNU. In addition, she is currently developing a number of projects and working with the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion on planning these projects within professional research activities.