march 18, 2024: a week in the life
Published:
this week
This Monday, I presented a portion of the main results from my first primary analysis to my supervisor and received an encouraging response. Then, I continued to tweak my systematic review and meta-analysis draft, trying to turn my long-winded narrative into something suitable for publication. Finally, I put together several slide decks to explore new areas of research that may have implications beyond blood donor health …
next week
I hope to refine my review publication draft, especially with regards to the figures and results interpretations (those are often the hardest parts to write!). I also hope to learn more about sophisticated causal inference methods that I built a foundation in during my undergraduate degree. And I intend to continue conducting additional analyses to see whether the results of my first primary analysis are robust to a variety of biases.
outside the lab
On Tuesday, I attended a blood donation appointment with three colleagues … and was temporarily deferred from giving blood. It looks like my veins need some coaching to overcome stage fright :) But other colleagues were successful, and I bursted with pride as they had their fair share of biscuits and crisps 🍪
on the reading list
Burgess S, Davey Smith G, Davies NM, Dudbridge F, Gill D, Glymour MM, et al. Guidelines for performing Mendelian randomization investigations: update for summer 2023. Wellcome Open Res. 2019;4:186.
weekly photo
Some residents of our local botanic garden.
about me
I’m Yaning (she/her), a PhD candidate in Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. I am working with colleagues in the Blood and Transplant Research Unit, the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, and NHS Blood and Transplant (England’s national blood service) to improve the safety and efficiency of voluntary whole blood donation. I’m supervised by the amazing Dr Lois Kim and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. This is my blog about my journey through this candidature, starting from nine months before my transfer of status. Please feel free to reach out at yw645 [at] cam [dot] ac [dot] uk!