15 million.

The number of people in Vietnam thought to be infected with viral hepatitis. According to the World Health Organization, Vietnam is one of 11 countries that bear half the world’s chronic viral hepatitis burden. James Hamilton and Doan Dao are among the Johns Hopkins hepatologists who have helped to launch a Center of Excellence for Liver Disease at Johns Hopkins and in Vietnam. The center is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Services, which oversees more than 100 hospitals and clinics. The center’s main goals — in collaboration with researchers at the Pham Ngoc Thach University School of Medicine in Ho Chi Minh City — will be to diagnose and treat chronic liver disease, build a leading research program and provide Johns Hopkins training to physician-scientists in Vietnam. “It’s Johns Hopkins’ tripartite mission,” says Hamilton.