After completing the postdoc program, I landed a dream academic job, where I can continue to research health policy with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Despite its relatively short period, my postdoc experience also helped expand the scope of my research and the breadth of professional network.

-Dr. Young Kyung Do 
Former Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow (2008–09)

The Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP) at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) is pleased to announce that Ang Sun has been awarded the 2011–12 Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship. Sun is currently completing her PhD in development economics at Brown University. She earned bachelor degrees in computer science and economics from Peking University in 2002. Sun's research focuses on resource allocation within households, especially in developing Asia. In her dissertation, she provides empirical evidence that the 2001 divorce law in China empowered women and decreased sex-selective abortion. She has also studied multi-generational living arrangements and household decisions about fertility and labor-force participation.

We also are delighted to announce that Yuki Takagi, currently completing her PhD in government at Harvard University, will be the 2012-13 Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow. Takagi is completing her dissertation on the political economy of insurance provision and intergenerational family transfers, such as nursing and childcare, focusing on East Asia. She has earned bachelor of economics and master of law degrees from the University of Tokyo. Takagi will join Shorenstein APARC after completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Politics at Princeton University in 2011–12.

The research of these two postdoctoral fellows will complement the Shorenstein APARC research initiative on demographic change in East Asia.

The Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship is designed to strengthen research in the field of Asian comparative health policy and demographic change, drawing from junior scholars in a variety of disciplines, including: demography, sociology, political science, economics, law, anthropology, public policy, health services research, and related fields. Fellows participate in AHPP events and collaborative research while completing their own projects on health policy or the social and economic implications of population aging in Asia.

Previous postdoctoral fellows in the program have accepted faculty positions in Asia and the United States. Dr. Young Kyung Do (2008–09), who earned his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is now an assistant professor at the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School. Dr. Brian Chen (2009–10), who earned his PhD in 2009 from the University of California, Berkeley, has accepted a faculty position at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. The current postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Qiulin Chen, earned his PhD from Peking University. He studies the political economy of China's health reforms as well as how China compares to other countries in terms of public and private intergenerational transfers (the China component of the National Transfer Accounts project).

Thoughts from the postdoctoral fellows

Dr. Do notes that "given that the primary goal of most postdoc programs is to help fresh PhD graduates prepare a successful academic career, my postdoc experience at Stanford['s Shorenstein] APARC has proved to be effective in my professional career thus far. After completing the postdoc program, I landed a dream academic job, where I can continue to research health policy with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Despite its relatively short period, my postdoc experience also helped expand the scope of my research and the breadth of professional network."

Dr. Chen adds that "the postdoctoral position opened many more doors than I had coming directly out of my Ph.D. program... The support I received was phenomenal... The wider Stanford community affords the postdoctoral fellow the opportunity to meet and interact with leading scholars of virtually any field in the arts and sciences."

The new postdoctoral fellows anticipate similarly stimulating experiences at Stanford:  Takagi says she is "delighted and excited" to accept the fellowship, and Sun emphasizes that she appreciates "the opportunity to spend one year at such a prestigious place as the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford, which will be a very nice start of my research career."

The breadth of [Shorenstein] APARC's work is truly impressive... I look forward to making full use of the resources and opportunities afforded me through the visiting fellowship.

-Dr. Siyan Yi

How can Stanford University contribute to improved health policy in the low-income countries of Asia? In addition to our formal degree-granting and research programs, mentorship of young scholars can play a role in strengthening the evidence base and analytic skills undergirding health policy for the millions of Asians who live on only a few dollars a day.

The Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP) is delighted to announce the inauguration of a fellowship program for young health policy experts from developing countries in Asia. The first Developing Asia Health Policy Fellow will be Dr. Siyan Yi from Cambodia. He holds a medical doctor degree from the University of Health Sciences in Cambodia as well as a doctoral degree in international health sciences from the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Tokyo. Dr. Karen Eggleston, director of AHPP, will be his primary sponsoring faculty member.

Dr. 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 risk behaviors among tuberculosis patients. Currently, he is involved in hospital- and community-based research projects in several developing countries as well as in Japan.

Cambodia has recently created a School of Public Health and is facing an increasing burden of chronic disease, while the burden from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis remains significant. Since Dr. Yi's research interests lie in health promotion and risky behaviors, he could someday be instrumental in helping to set policies to address the public health challenges Cambodia will face.  

Dr. Yi will join the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) in autumn 2011 for a nine-month fellowship to immerse in the academic environment and to develop additional skills to contribute to improved health policy in Cambodia. He notes that "the breadth of [Shorenstein] APARC's work is truly impressive... I look forward to making full use of the resources and opportunities afforded me through the visiting fellowship."

Pradnya Palande's passion for improving human health through scientific research began during her graduate studies, and has continued to the present day through her work with Reliance Life Sciences (RLS) of India. Palande, a 2010-2011 Corporate Affiliates Fellow, holds a master's degree in zoology, with a specialization in animal physiology and a minor in biotechnology. "I used to dream of getting a job in the biotechnology industry," she says. Within just a few short months of graduating, Palande began working for RLS, and she has enjoyed serving the company for the past nine years.

RLS belongs to the Reliance Group, one of India's largest corporate entities. It conducts research in a wide variety of areas, such as stem cell therapy, molecular medicine, and industrial biotechnology, and it offers products ranging from therapeutic proteins to tissue-cultured plants. "RLS is a life sciences company in the truest sense," Palande states. In her role as a team leader for the company's biopharmaceuticals division, which is headed by Dr. Venkata Ramana, she conducts literature searches and strategic planning for new research projects, and also supports regulatory audits. In addition to her primary duties, Palande is dedicated to her role as secretary of the safety observation committee. "RLS believes in safety and a safe working culture," Palande emphasizes. "It is a perfect place for me to work."

During her year at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC), Palande is conducting cancer-related research in a laboratory under the direction of Cliff L. Wang of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Her Shorenstein APARC advisors are Rafiq Dossani, a senior research scholar, and Karen Eggleston, the director of the Asia Health Policy Program. Palande and her fellow researchers in Wang's lab are studying the population dynamics of cancer cells. In the process of cancer development, Palande explains, it is thought that cells often develop high mutational activity before accumulating mutations that lead to cancer. Mutations—changes in the genome sequence—can be advantageous, benign, or harmful to cells. Palande is examining whether a high mutation rate provides a survival advantage to cancer cells. For this, she is studying the activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) enzyme, which plays a key role in the development of immune response in the human body. The goal of the project is to provide insight into the nature of cancer development, and also to give direction for the prevention of chemotherapy resistance due to AID activity.

"Before I leave for India, I would like to complete my project successfully in a way that will instigate future research in cancer biology," Palande says. Upon returning to RLS, she intends to apply some of the concepts that she has gained while conducting research at Stanford. She also hopes to build upon the Stanford management classes that she has been auditing, studying the subject in more detail with the intention of utilizing it in her work at RLS.

"It has been a great privilege for me to work at Stanford, and it has been an amazing experience," she states. "Interacting with people from various backgrounds has been enlightening. Also, I am quite impressed by the professionalism of people [in the United States], their helping nature, and their free way of life. I love it." She adds that through her Stanford research and classes, her horizons have been broadened.

As passionate about the natural world as she is about scientific research, Palande looks forward to traveling more before returning to India. "I love traveling to be close to nature," she says. Also something of an adventurer, she has taken a rock-climbing course and has tried skydiving. Inspired by the range of activities in the United States, she plans to take an activity class, such as dance, after returning to India. "I want to keep myself as active and healthy as possible," she says with a smile.