Yanqing Wang: Starting with the George
Meet Yanqing Wang, a Clinical Research Associate for the Primary Care and Population Health program at The George Institute, China. GI China is the place where she developed her interest in public health research and switched her career path.
How long have you been working at The George Institute?
It has been almost 6 years since I joined GI China in November 2010.
What is your professional background？
I graduated from Hebei Northern College in 2005 with a major in medical information management and information systems. Before joining GI China, I had more than 5 years experience in IT, previously working as a Network and Data Manager, Call Center Manager, IT Engineer, and Customer Relationship Manager. I joined GI China as the project assistant on the China Rural Health Initiative program.
What attracted you to working at The George Institute?
Frankly speaking, it was actually a coincidence. I was an IT engineer who was assigned to GI China by my company. However, I was attracted to the nice friendly working environment of GI China, where all the staff were extremely dedicated to their work and full of positive energy. What's more, with my major more about medical information management, I thought I was in a strong position to find a job at GI China and was very fortunate with my timing to be able to join the China Rural Health Initiative as a very meaningful and perfect trigger. For all these reasons, the opportunity to join GI China has been the beginning of my public health research career.
What are you currently working on?
I am now a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) for Primary Care and Population Health (PCPH) program. I am responsible for supervising the progress and quality of the China Salt Substitute and Stroke Study (SSaSS), which is evaluating whether a low-sodium salt substitute can reduce the deaths and disability from acute stroke.
What difference will this make to healthcare and why?
All the work we do at GI China is to improve the health of millions of people, not only in China but around the world. Take SsaSS, for example, a large-scale cluster randomised controlled trial being conducted in rural regions of China, which is evaluating the effects of replacing usual salt with a low-sodium salt substitute on the incidence of stroke and deaths. The results will be relevant to Chinese people but also to many others in different parts of the world.
To explain to people what you do you say…
I am doing research work on public health in the hope of translating research outcomes into policy and practice by providing reliable background evidence, to help address a major health burden in China – stroke.
To unwind at the end of the day you…
I enjoyed swimming regularly as a good way to relax, but now I devote most of my leisure time to supporting my baby.
