Research

BIG TRIAL OUT! Our manuscript describing the STRIDES trial of interventions for fainting in blood donors is now out: (link). This work has come to fruition due to the efforts of millions of people (literally), especially the trial investigators and our blood service partners - I was lucky enough to make some contributions towards the end of our nearly ten-year journey. In other news, I have continued to tweak my simulation modelling work in response to my supervisor's feedback, have conducted further analyses for my project on the long-term health effects of donation (which are currently confounding me), and updated an analytic plan for a nascent mini-project in response to senior colleagues' feedback. Onwards!

• Wu Y, Qi H, Di Angelantonio E, Kaptoge S, Wood AM, Kim LG. Risk factors for vasovagal reactions in blood donors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Transfusion. 2025 Jan;65(1):211-223. doi: 10.1111/trf.18078.
• Wu Y, Di Angelantonio E, Kaptoge S, Wood AM, Gilchrist PT, Walker M, Kingston N, Masser B, Roberts D, Ferguson E, Kim LG. Role of pain and anxiety in mediating relationships between donation history and vasovagal reaction symptoms in blood donors in England. Transfusion. 2025 Nov 21. doi: 10.1111/trf.70004.

• Wu Y, "Vasovagal reactions in blood donors - risk factors, mechanisms, and prevention". German Society for Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology meeting (2025).

• Wu Y, "Blood donation frequency and cardiovascular disease risk in England: 10-year follow-up of the INTERVAL trial". European Conference on Donor Health and Management (2025).
• Wu Y, "Could psychologic constructs explain why inexperienced blood donors are more likely to faint?". Cambridge Public Health early career researcher networking event (2024).

• Wu Y, "Donation history and vasovagal reactions in English whole blood donors: associations and mechanisms". British Blood Transfusion Society meeting (2024). Poster link.
• Wu Y, "Across 73 studies of 19 million donations, blood donors who felt faint were often younger, inexperienced, smaller, hypotensive, female, and fearful of donation". Royal Papworth Hospital Celebration of Research event (2024). Poster link.

I currently supervise first-year medical students in Foundations of Evidence-Based Practice (4 weeks). In Cambridge, supervisions are small-group teaching sessions where learners discuss lecture content and its real-world applications with someone already working in their field of study.

I currently serve as a teaching assistant (~8 hours) and exam grader (~8 hours) for statistics and epidemiology modules within the MPhil in Population Health Sciences. I have also assisted with the design of assessment materials for an advanced biostatistics module within the MPhil.

I have reviewed for:

• Vox Sanguinis (the flagship journal of the International Society of Blood Transfusion)
• Transfusion Medicine Reviews
• BMC Public Health
• Technology and Health Care

I currently serve as the co-chair of my department's PhD student committee. In 2024, I supported the organising of my research unit's away day.

I periodically suggest changes to the English blood service's donor-facing communications materials to improve their clarity and readability from dual donor and researcher perspectives. You can read about the resulting changes here.

Seeing that a colleague from the Belgian Red Cross, Dr Hans Van Remoortel, had lost his poster en route to an international blood transfusion conference, I created the below simple sketch of the poster, which was subsequently displayed on an A4 sheet of paper during the conference!

I recently organised a full-day activity (see here) for the 2025 iteration of the Cambridge Festival, a multi-day event that invites local publics to engage with university-hosted research. I previously organised (see here) and volunteered for three activities during the 2024 iteration of the same festival. I have also volunteered at 2024 and 2025 editions of the local charity Abbey People's Eager Explorers event, during which I conversed about our unit's research with children and families. Finally, I have volunteered at 2024 and 2025 editions of the "Hopes and Fears Lab" run by the Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public, which involved conversing with local publics about their hopes and fears about the future of science and technology over an iftar meal.

I currently volunteer with I'm a Scientist, which gives me the chance to chat with primary and secondary school students about careers in science. I also serve as a Student Ambassador for my college, Trinity Hall, which allows me to give tours and Q&As to prospective students from diverse socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds.

I was a 2024 East of England finalist for Famelab, a science communication competition that invites early-career researchers to speak for three minutes about their research to diverse audiences.