june 24, 2024: a week in the life

this week

WOOHOO :) I managed to re-run some analyses for my systematic review and meta-analysis according to the feedback of senior colleagues and have made some plots too (they’re not very beautiful yet). That’s been the main focus of my week, and frankly, most of that work was tedious and mind-numbing. I could have made things easier for myself by coding some functions to automate the process, but I didn’t think I’d have the time. Regardless, that project is moving towards completion. Alongside that work, I ran a series of analyses using English donor data and began tabulating and interpreting my findings (for what feels like the millionth time). My understanding of those data is constantly changing, which is both a joy and a frustration.

next week

CRUNCH TIME! My deadlines for (1) my review and (2) my primary analysis, all falling around July 4th, are coming up. I’ll finalise my work for those, as well as continue to compile my “first year report”, which we need to submit at the end of our first year for assessment. It’ll be a valuable chance to reflect on my work so far. Alongside those tasks, I’ll be working with some unit colleagues to brainstorm some public engagement ideas for a starter fund offered by the University.

outside the lab

I took a rare spontaneous half day off this Friday (maybe it was more like a full day off … who knows) to get ice cream and go to the zoology museum with some college friends who will soon be graduating from their programs. I remember being them last year, and now it’s the other way round …

on the reading list

Wang Y, Zhai P, Jiang S, Li C, Li S. Blood Donors’ Preferences Toward Incentives for Donation in China [published correction appears in JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Feb 5;7(2):e240325. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.0325]. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(6):e2318320

weekly photo

Some cute creatures at the zoology museum.

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!