Yaning Wu

Yaning Wu

PhD student | storyteller | 🇨🇳🇺🇸🇪🇬🇰🇪🇬🇧

june 24, 2024: a week in the life

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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

image 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!

november 16, 2024: a week in the life

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It’s been a week of presentations! On Wednesday, I presented findings from my first primary analyses in an intimate setting and had a great conversation with the attendees. On Thursday, I presented to a larger audience, including senior scientists within the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. I’ve also built on my manuscript draft for that primary analysis, which I hope to share with my supervisor soon. I’ve also spent several hours trying to improve on a proposal for a simulation modelling analysis according to comments from my supervisor. Finally, I’ve been working through final admin procedures for our accepted review paper!

november 9, 2024: a week in the life

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this week

Whew … it’s getting late. It’s almost bedtime and I’m still on my work computer! I would never consider this acceptable normally but have made an exception for this chaotic week. I’ve continued to respond to my supervisor’s comments on my primary analyses, realising that I will need to make substantial changes to the variables used. I’ve also made a dummy dataset that enables me to test my simulation modelling code before I receive the “real” data … though I haven’t done most of that testing yet. And perhaps most importantly, I’ve submitted revisions for our systematic review manuscript, which has now been accepted for publication!!! I hope to share the published paper with you all within the next two weeks.

november 2, 2024: a week in the life

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this week

Time for an apology … I forgot to upload a blog post last week! I have little excuse, except that I had some lovely friends visiting and might have forgotten about this habit amidst the chaos. Anyway, I’m back now, and I come with exciting news! Two reviewers have submitted their comments after I submitted my review manuscript a month ago, and I’ve already begun responding to them. I hope to complete these “minor revisions” (in the journal’s Associate Editor’s words) within a week and move this work closer to publication. During the rest of the week, I’ve been attempting to improve the predictive power of a model I’ve fit within a planned simulation model, revising my thesis draft of my first primary analyses following feedback from my supervisor, conducting a second review of a transfusion-related manuscript, and finalising data access request documents for a near-future (I hope!) project. Things are changing fast, and I’m trying my best to keep up.

october 14, 2024: a week in the life

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this week

I’M BACK! After a period of annual leave from Oct 3-18, I’ve returned to Cambridge and am currently working from my college. In the few days before my travels and the day and a half since, I submitted our review paper for publication, made a lot of slide decks to share proposed ideas with my supervisor, fleshed out a manuscript version of my first primary analysis, and liaised with the undergraduate students who I’ll be leading seminars for in a few weeks :) I kept an eye on emails while away, so I have little to catch up on on that front. I’m still reeling, though, from a pile of outstanding to-dos.