Polathep Vichitkunakorn has been named one of the nation’s youngest professors as a reward for his tireless battle against Thailand’s biggest health epidemic.
His appointment as professor of epidemiology at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) was officially announced last month (July) in the Royal Gazette.
However, the 35-year-old had already served two years in the post, studying causes and patterns of four noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that are responsible for 74% of all deaths in Thailand.
Professors under 35 are a rare breed in Thai academia, where most scholars do not reach the top rank until their 50s or 60s.
Polathep shared the remarkable story of his five-year journey from junior lecturer to professor in an August 8 Facebook post.
He launched his academic career as a lecturer at PSU’s Faculty of Medicine aged just 28 after graduating from the same university. He rose to assistant professor a year later, became an associate professor in 2022, and reached the rank of professor in February 2024.
Sharing what he learned
“What I really want to share is not the method of rising up the ladder quickly, but rather what each step taught me,” he wrote.
His early goal was to become an assistant professor after the minimum one-year service as a lecturer. After scrambling to submit his research paper before the deadline, he realised something was still missing. Although he achieved his goal in just a year and four days, he learned one valuable lesson: “We are not lacking in opportunities, but we rarely finish what we have in hand.”
He decided to set his ambitions aside and throw himself into work that would have a “real-world impact” in reducing the 400,000 annual deaths from NCDs in Thailand.
It didn’t take long for him to realise he had completed enough published papers to apply for an associate professorship.
“This was a very important lesson. Do not do research just to build up your portfolio. Do meaningful work, and the academic position will follow as a result,” he wrote.
Lesson learned, Polathep submitted 18 academic works and one textbook for his professorship application. He spent long hours refining the details of his book, unwilling to trade quality for speed. “Every explanation, every example, and every detail has to be of the highest standard, because what we write may be used by students, lecturers, or other researchers for years to come.”
Mindset gained at a young age
The young professor stressed that the ultimate purpose of a good education is not personal success, but public service. He absorbed this mindset as a student at Mahidol Wittayanusorn School, under its renowned director Thongchai Chewprecha.
“He once told us that those of us who were handed academic opportunities should serve as the country’s ‘locomotives’,” Polathep said. “That sentence has stayed with me ever since. It inspired my belief that a good education should not be limited to personal achievement but be used to serve others and contribute to the nation.”
He was taught that Thailand’s progress depended on developing domestic technology and expertise to add value to the nation’s rich natural resources, citing how raw rubber is processed into higher-value products like latex gloves.
“While I might not yet qualify as a ‘locomotive of the country’, I aim to be among those driving our academic work, health system and society forward,” the young professor said.
Mahidol Wittayanusorn is Thailand's first specialist public science high school.
Located in Nakhon Pathom, it offers government scholarships for gifted students in grades 10 through 12, focusing on advanced science, mathematics, and technology.
Research on booze control
Polathep earned a doctorate in epidemiology from PSU’s Faculty of Medicine and a subspecialty diploma in epidemiology from the Board of Preventive Medicine under the Medical Council of Thailand – expertise he now uses in the national battle against alcohol abuse.
Since 2022, he has served as deputy director of PSU’s Centre for Alcohol Studies, researching alcohol-related problems and supporting control efforts.
He is also secretary of the Academic Working Group Supporting Alcoholic Beverage Control under the Public Health Ministry’s Department of Disease Control.
Additionally, he has served as secretary of the Faculty of Medicine’s Human Research Ethics Committee since 2020 and has been a member of the university’s Human Research Ethics Committee since 2022.
By Thai PBS World’s Political Desk
