Dr. Siyan Yi joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) during the 2011–12 academic year from the National Center of Global Health and Medicine and the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he jointly served as a research fellow and lecturer. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Cambodia’s School of Public Health, the National Institute of Public Health, and the School of International Studies at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Yi’s research has centered largely on epidemiological methods. This has included, for example, work on surveys in Cambodia on adolescent risky sexual behaviors, substance abuse, and depression; a health promotion project in primary schools; sexual behaviors among people living with HIV/AIDS; and HIV risky behaviors among tuberculosis patients. Currently, he is involved in hospital- and community-based research projects in several developing countries as well as in Japan. He has published several papers in these research areas in international journals. His selected publications include:

• Siyan Yi, Akiko Nanri, Kalpana Poudel, Daisuke Nonaka, Hori Ai, Tetsuya Mizoue. “Association between serum ferritin and depressive symptoms in Japanese municipal employees.” Psychiatry Research, 2011. 189: 368-372.
• Siyan Yi, Daisuke Nonaka, Marino Nomoto, Jun Kobayashi, and Tetsuya Mizoue. “Predictors of the uptake of A (H1N1) influenza vaccine: Findings from a population-based longitudinal study in Tokyo.” PLoS One, 2011. 6: e18893.
• Siyan Yi, Krishna C. Poudel, Junko Yasuoka, Paula H. Palmer, Songky Yi, and Masamine Jimba. “Risk vs. protective factors for substance use among adolescent students in Cambodia.” Journal of Substance Use, 2011. 16:14-26.
• Siyan Yi, Krishna C. Poudel, Junko Yasuoka, Paula H. Palmer, Songky Yi, and Masamine Jimba. “Role of risk and protective factors for risky sexual behaviors among high school students in Cambodia.” BMC Public Health, 2010. 10: 477.
• Siyan Yi, Krishna C. Poudel, Junko Yasuoka, Masao Ichikawa, Vutha Tan, and Masamine Jimba. “Influencing factors for seeking HIV voluntary counseling and testing among tuberculosis patients in Cambodia.” AIDS Care, 2009. 21: 529-534.

Yi holds an MHSc (2007) and a PhD (2010) in international health sciences from the School of International Health at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Medicine. He also earned an MD in general medicine from the University of Health Sciences, Cambodia (2001). Yi has won research awards, including: the Young Investigator Award from the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (2008), the Montreux Prize from the Swiss Association for Adolescent Health and the International Association for Adolescent Health (2009), and the Scientific Research Award from the University of Tokyo (2009).