Relevant Experiences
Study Abroad: DIS Copenhagen
To provide me with the global perspective to understand the globalized health system, I chose to study abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. I hope to gain first-hand knowledge on the healthcare system and delivery of Denmark and its neighboring European countries. I hope to be able to examine a variety of public health focuses such as health policy, health administration, accessibility and community health, and be able to make comparisons with healthcare systems that I am personally more familiar with, such as that of Hong Kong and the US. I am also interested in the regional specific health challenges that they face. With the DIS Copenhagen program, I hope to learn about the health challenges in the increase of costs in healthcare, aging population, and racial health inequity. These health issues can be specific to the region but can also be applicable to many other places in the world. I have a strong desire to understand cultures and obtain first-hand field knowledge and experience, and I believe that these abroad experiences better prepared me to work in a global context.
Research experience: Hong Kong University School of Public Health
In Summer and Fall of 2020, I had the opportunity to work as a student research assistant at the Hong Kong University School of Public Health. My team has been conducting a family cohort study in Hong Kong since 2009, which aims to investigate the trends and identify factors of health, happiness, and harmony (the “3Hs”) of the population. During my employment, I have gained valuable research experience and obtained relevant knowledge and skills. A few of my job duties include conducting literature reviews, data organization and presentation, and fieldwork quality checking. This job opportunity enriched my knowledge not only on public health research and dissemination, but also on public health career prospects.
St Olaf Public Health Club
In Spring 2019, I founded the Public Health club with the intention of creating a community for students interested in public health at St. Olaf. In our weekly club meetings, we learned and discussed contemporary public health issues through watching videos, news and attending webinars. As a club, we have also hosted speaker events to increase students’ exposure to public health research projects, contemporary public health problems and local health initiatives. The club also aimed to serve as a resource for students interested in pursuing public health in higher education and as a career.
Librarian consultation
I met with our college’s science librarian, Audrey Gunn, for the first time on 10/27/2020. She gave me a lot of advice on research strategies. First, Audrey gave me a refresher on how to access different databases from the St Olaf library portal. It can be done by either looking at a specific subject under the database list on the catalyst or clicking directly on subject guides. The difference between the two is that the subject category under the database list is more elaborate, as it includes every database that is slightly relevant to the subject. Meanwhile, the subject guides are more selective, though less frequently updated. Some main databases Audrey recommended to me were PubMed and Web of Science. For the Web of Science, it might be useful to sort the academic papers by relevance instead of time of publication. Moreover, it has sections for other papers that later reference that particular paper, as well as other related records that share the same references, which can be extremely helpful when looking for other similar papers. Audrey also encouraged me to search for global public health libguide/ research guides on the internet so I can find databases specifically catered to my major. Lastly, she recommended Zotero for organizing papers and references for my senior project, and briefly showed me how it works. The meeting was very informative and it gave me more confidence in conducting research in my field of study.