may 6, 2024: a week in the life

this week

I’ve been feeling like an undergrad again! This week, I took a three-day online course on causal inference methods in quantitative research from beloved colleagues at UCL. The content wasn’t easy, but I think I caught what I needed to. It might be years before I can understand those methods fully!

In other news, I have had two meetings over the last two weeks with my supervisor and advisor to discuss potential avenues for future research using our blood donor datasets. In between and after those meetings, I’ve been looking into using methods that are new to me to investigate questions about donation safety in the short- and long-term. I can’t lie - this is hard work, and little of it is clear-cut! But I suppose that is what it means to push the boundaries of knowledge.

next week

Slides, camera, action! I’ll be preparing slides and a script for a flash talk during a networking event with other public health researchers on the 22nd. I’m encouraged by colleagues’ feedback thus far on my work and will finalise my preparations by the end of the week. Apart from that, I’ll be narrowing down my seemingly exponentially-growing list of ideas with the guidance of my supervisory team.

outside the lab

I don’t think I’ve done much outside the lab this week … but I’m looking forward to a long walk to a village near us tomorrow (Sunday, I’m writing this from the past ;)). The weather is finally cooperating.

on the reading list

Dahabreh IJ, Bibbins-Domingo K. Causal Inference About the Effects of Interventions From Observational Studies in Medical Journals. JAMA. 2024.

weekly photo

A pristine flower on my walk home from the office.

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!