Huan Chen: International Women's Day 2019 Profile
Huan Chen has been working in women’s and child health for 10 years. She joined The George Institute for Global Health in 2015 to focus on women with gestational diabetes and other non-communicable diseases during pregnancy.
Huan was drawn to her field by a desire to help those with very limited access to health services, and improve the health outcomes of the most vulnerable.
“I particularly want to focus on women, who are often among the poorest of the poor, despite playing a major role in family and child care.”
In her previous work, Huan worked on maternal and child health. Joining The George Institute saw her focus shift to non-communicable diseases and those that affect women in particular.
“There are many other diseases that seriously affect women’s health but are not paid as much attention as they should be, compared with pregnancy and maternal health.”
In the future, Huan hopes more research attention is paid to women’s health through a life-course perspective, especially postpartum and non-communicable disease care for women.
“I hope our research projects can truly benefit women who are at high risk of non-communicable diseases during their lifetimes.”
One of the things she recommends most about her sector to other women is the ability for research to have direct positive impacts on populations around the world.
“This is a great area to work for the benefit of the most vulnerable people, to meet with and learn from the greatest talents, and to fulfil your passion and dreams.”
Huan believes employers have a big role to play if we are to move towards a more gender-balanced world.
“Women face a lot of challenges in career development when they have children. Employers should provide more supportive policies to allow women to find the balance between work and child care, such as flexibility with office hours and work location.”
For Huan, this year’s International Women’s Day theme, #Balanceforbetter, reminds her of the intersection between our personal and public lives that we all strive to navigate.
“Personally, I think balance is about striving for equilibrium between life and work.”
