Prof. April WU, who graduated from CUHK Master of Public Health and PhD in Public Health, and became Research Assistant Professor in 2022, was invited to share the story of her PhD journeys.
(1) Before you started PhD studies in our School, what did you do and what have you studied?
I earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Sun Yat-Sen University's Lingnan (University) School. During my undergraduate studies, I participated in research projects on medical health insurance, which led to my interest in health economics. To expand my knowledge in this area, I applied to the JCPHPC CUHK MPH program with a concentration in health system and policy.
(2) Why did you decide to become a PhD student?
Deep thinking and exploring unknown things were very enjoyable to me. So, before I started the master's program, I was considering pursuing a PhD and an academic career. After getting more exposure to in-depth research during the master's program, I was more determined to pursue a PhD.
(3) Why did you pursue PhD at CUHK Public Health?
CUHK Public Health has a great reputation locally and internationally. During my master's studies, I had a lot of opportunities to communicate with professors. The support they gave students and their excellence in research impressed me. In addition, since I wanted to study health system and policy research, CUHK Public Health represents the best choice I could have made in Hong Kong.
(4) Would you briefly describe what have you learned during your PhD journey and then becoming a post-doc fellow and RAP?
As a result of my PhD journey, I have gained independent research capabilities, passion for doing research, and full support and trust from supervisors. CUHK Public Health institution provides me with an excellent opportunity to build my expertise and research network; therefore, I decided to become a post-doctoral fellow and now a Research Assistant Professor here. I've been able to publish on high impact journals, get competitive external grants, and increase my passion for research through my work at our school.
(5) What are your future plans? E.g. your plans in 5 years and 10 years?
In the coming years, I'll keep building up my expertise in health economics and policy with the support of CUHK Public Health. Hong Kong has a lot of opportunities for health economics and policy research, with our rich resources and involvement of local policy makers. Besides expanding and deepening my research on related topics, I also want to get more people working with me. I will hire more people with the capacity of doing health economics research in my team, and also have outstanding PhD students who are interested in the topics.
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