Yaning Wu

Yaning Wu

student storyteller | 🇨🇳🇺🇸🇪🇬🇰🇪🇬🇧

november 18, 2024: a week in the life

2 minute read

Published:

this week

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I drafted a data request for my proposed simulation study, led my first-ever undergraduate supervision meeting, presented my first primary analysis to a multidisciplinary audience of Blood and Transplant Unit researchers, and started running my simulation code using dummy data. Then, on Thursday, I cracked the screen of my work laptop, took a half-day to blunder around and despair, and spent the rest of the day starting a new job as a Research Associate at Kohlrabi, a public health consultancy. It’s a privilege to join a team that clearly likes their greens :)

next week

I’ll reorganise myself after this chaotic week, find a way to get my laptop repaired, and continue to finalise my data request for that simulation study. I’ll also continue fleshing out the rationale and methods for a study involving longer-term follow-up of blood donors, as well as sending off fifteen Masters assessments that I graded this past week.

outside the lab

BIRTHDAY TIME! I tried to keep it quiet, but I had a bit of a wild weekend to celebrate with kind friends from disparate places. I could not be sleepier now but am very grateful for the wildness.

on the reading list

Pallisgaard JL, Brooks MM, Chaitman BR, Boothroyd DB, Perez M, Hlatky MA; Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes Study Group. Thiazolidinediones and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation Among Patients with Diabetes and Coronary Disease. Am J Med. 2018 Jul;131(7):805-812. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.02.026.

weekly photo

IMG_0212 I had half of this volume of wine on Friday - moderation for the win.

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 25, 2024: a week in the life

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Published:

this week

I’ve spent the vast majority of this week breaking and un-breaking code for my simulation modelling project, which was well-aligned with a three-hour stint of TA-ing I took on this Friday for a practical in R coding. I also led a seminar for first-year medical students in appraising epidemiological literature, which I found even more fulfilling than my first try last week. Then, once again, I re-ran some code for my first primary analysis and continued to develop proposals for upcoming projects. Finally, I’m looking forward to presenting an idea for an international collaborative study in mid-December and am preparing slides!

next week

In a few days, I’ll try to compile a proposal in full for a planned project, as well as turn another from a bullet-point outline into proper text. And I’ll continue to break and un-break my code until it runs without stopping. Those are my most important priorities, but I’m also considering developing some new ideas for further analyses of the data I already have … tbd!

november 11, 2024: a week in the life

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this week

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 4, 2024: a week in the life

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Published:

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.

october 28, 2024: a week in the life

3 minute read

Published:

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.