The results of my research [on HIV/AIDS intervention programs in China] have led to improvements in the…programs that were studied, and potentially will lead to broader change as I write up my research for publication. My research experience showed me the rewarding impact of public policy analysis on the quality and scope of health services. As a result, I decided to pursue a master’s in public policy at Stanford.

-Crystal Zheng, MA student, Public Policy Program

As an undergraduate student majoring in East Asian studies, Crystal Zheng spent two summers conducting extensive HIV/AIDS-related field research in China’s Yunnan province and Shenzhen special economic zone. Zheng worked closely with primary thesis advisor Karen Eggleston, director of the Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP) at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC). In the end, the project shaped the direction of her future academic and professional interests as well as contributed to potentially far-reaching program improvements for a key health policy challenge in China.

In the short time since its 2007 founding, AHPP has empowered the research of numerous Stanford University students like Zheng—emerging scholars, researchers, and thought leaders—through its teaching and mentoring activities. The program promotes the comparative study of health and health policy across the Asia-Pacific region, and its work with students closely accords with Shorenstein APARC’s commitment to training the next generation of scholars. In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of scholarship at Shorenstein APARC, students who tap into AHPP’s resources come from a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

The six undergraduate and graduate students profiled here have conducted or are in the process of carrying out timely, innovative research focusing on various aspects of healthcare and health policy in China. Depending on the context of their research, many students—such as Zheng, who received a Chappell Lougee Scholarship and a Major Grant through the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE)—have found Stanford-based funding in the form of research assistantships, grants, and scholarships. Several have also conducted substantial field research in China—even without prior Chinese-language training. In many cases, the research has proved life changing—one student was so inspired that she entirely switched the focus of her graduate studies.

It has been a true privilege to work with these students—their enthusiasm, quick learning, and productive research on their chosen topics make them a pleasure to mentor.”

-Karen Eggleston, Director, AHPP

Amy Chen, a human biology major and a 2011 Newman Civic Fellow Award recipient, will spend the summer surveying and conducting interviews with medical staff and students at Shandong Provincial Hospital to understand hospital worker attitudes about organ donation and transplantation in China. She received a Chappell Lougee Scholarship and a supplementary grant from the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) in support of her research activities. Eggleston, who is serving as Chen’s advisor for the project, helped connect Chen with colleagues at Shandong University who will work with her throughout the summer. “I came to her [Eggleston] with a passion and a genuine interest in learning more about organ transplantation,” says Chen, “but through her guidance I was really able to narrow down my interests...” Chen hopes to one day establish a workplace-based organ donation education program in China and has already started developing a future action plan for it. 

Overcoming a potentially challenging language barrier, human biology major Monica Jeong successfully conducted diabetes-related research at Shandong Provincial Hospital. A recipient of a Major Grant, Jeong worked closely with her advisor Eggleston. She credits her honors research project with enriching her current work as a clinical research coordinator with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “I feel a lot more at ease interviewing patients,” she notes. “Furthermore, understanding the barriers that patients might face in seeking healthcare has made me a better-informed and more sensitive person when encountering patients at the Stanford Cancer Center.”

While studying the link between improved education enrollment and decreased mortality in Mao-era China as an AHPP research assistant, Jing Li, a former School of Education graduate student, developed a strong interest in health economics and policy analysis. “I am intrigued by the intuitiveness in quantifying relationships in health studies, as well as the crucial role of government in shaping health development using policy tools,” she says. This fall, Li will begin a doctoral program in health services and policy analysis at the University of California, Berkeley, where she plans to focus on health insurance policy, finance mechanisms, and payment systems in China. Li is particularly concerned with issues of inefficiency and inequality in healthcare policy.

Kelvin Bryan Tan, a doctoral student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, gained a significant understanding of China’s healthcare system through the course “Healthcare in East Asia” taught by Eggleston. It led him to conduct a study to discover the optimal mix of different types of financing in medical savings-based healthcare financing systems, with a focus on Singapore and China. Eggleston worked closely with Tan, providing him with additional theoretical and background information. “This research project is likely to form a substantial part of my dissertation,” states Tan.

Anthony Vasquez, an East Asian studies master’s student, was inspired in a class taught by Eggleston to write a research paper about blindness prevention care in China, especially the role international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play in providing this type of care in rural areas. In his research, Vasquez utilized a combination of academic literature and a study of NGOs currently operating in China. “By conducting this research,” he says, “I became more informed about the challenges that China faces in providing universal healthcare coverage, which is the government’s goal.” Although his MA thesis will focus on a different topic, Vasquez plans to stay closely connected to developments in China’s healthcare system.

Through her thesis research, Rachel Zimet Strick, a joint East Asian studies-business administration master’s student, examined the conditions for producing high-quality pharmaceuticals within China’s current market-based socialist economy. Eggleston served as her primary advisor, providing valuable guidance on her source materials and methodology, which combined economic modeling and theory, challenging field research, and primary and secondary source materials. Zimet, who now works for Abbott Laboratories as a member of its Management Development Program, credits her research with providing her with key skills that she utilizes in her work today. “[It] allowed me to demonstrate to Abbott…my ability to think deeply about the Chinese market…and to identify key market and non-market forces that would affect our business in any international environment,” she states.

AHPP welcomes inquiries from current and prospective students with an interest in issues surrounding healthcare and health policy in the Asia-Pacific region, and looks forward to continuing to help guide and inspire students for many years to come.

“Stanford attracts a diverse group of intellectually engaged students with a passion for research that can inform policy and improve lives,” says Eggleston. “AHPP strives to support those students interested in health and medical care across the Asia-Pacific, from freshmen to advanced grad students across a broad range of disciplines, to create a community of like-minded scholars and push boundaries. Our own research and policy outreach benefit tremendously from the synergies that result.”

More information about undergraduate and graduate research funding opportunities at Stanford is available at the AHPP, VPUE, CEAS, and Global Gateway websites.

Takeshi Kondo was undergoing training as a new Mitsubishi Electric systems engineer in Kobe, Japan when the massive 7.2-magnitude Great Hanshin earthquake struck in 1995. When Japan was hit by the double disaster of an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a tsunami in March 2011, Kondo was at Stanford University participating in the Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellows Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC). The March tragedy called to mind the 1995 Kobe earthquake and underscored for him the strength of the U.S.-Japan relationship in the face of adversity.

Kondo, currently a manager for the Strategic IT Business Planning Department of Mitsubishi Electric, is a Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellow for the 2010–2011 academic year. During this rigorous and stimulating year, he has conducted research on non-entertainment applications for augmented reality (AR) technology, audited entrepreneurship classes, and participated in site visits to numerous Bay Area companies. He will present his research findings during a public seminar at the end of May before concluding the program and returning to his position at Mitsubishi Electric's corporate headquarters in Tokyo.

A graduate of Waseda University with BS and MS degrees in industrial and management systems engineering, Kondo majored in combinatorial optimization—the analysis of numerous finite possibilities in order to arrive at the most efficient solution to a problem. He has applied his expertise for the past seventeen years at Mitsubishi Electric, a corporation with five major divisions and approximately one hundred thousand employees worldwide, including the United States. Mitsubishi Electric manufactures products ranging from common home appliances like refrigerators to sophisticated electronic devices such as semiconductor lasers. Its Diamond Vision display system graces San Francisco's AT&T Park and Oakland's Oracle Arena.

Prior to taking up his current position at Mitsubishi Electric, Kondo designed systems related to road operations and management, including traffic information and radio communications systems, and he also took part in a joint government and private sector study of a toll collection system similar to FasTrak. The study group made important technology- and policy-related recommendations to the Japanese government when it was preparing to implement the system throughout the country. Kondo is now engaged in finding ways to develop the IT-side of Mitsubishi Electric's business, testing new systems in-house before putting them on the market.

Kondo is excited about the possible manufacturing applications of AR technology, which to date has mostly been utilized in entertainment. A commonly seen use of the technology is with the throw-distance markings that are digitally overlaid on a field during a television football broadcast. When he returns to Mitsubishi Electric this summer, Kondo plans to advocate the use of AR technology and to explore new ways of implementing it with their manufacturing. His Shorenstein APARC research project advisor has been Henry S. Rowen, co-director of the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a specialist on high-tech industries in the United States and Asia. "He is brilliant," emphasizes Kondo.

During his year with the Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellows Program, Kondo has audited several entrepreneurship classes in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, noting the profusion of such classes at Stanford University. It has led him to develop an interest in the Bay Area venture capital firms that the Fellows have visited, his first encounters with businesses of this kind. The group has also toured a number of high-tech companies, of which Cisco Systems holds a special attraction for Kondo because of his interest in AR technology.

Of all of his experiences this past year, Kondo has perhaps been most struck by the overwhelming U.S. response to Japan's recovery efforts after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. "It has been very confusing," he says, "but the American people have shown support for us." Japan too demonstrated its friendship when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005—an unprecedented disaster in U.S. history. The Japanese government and private citizens sent significant funds and supplies for relief efforts.

When Kondo returns to Japan in June, he will take with him not only the academic and business expertise that he has gained while participating in the Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellows Program but also the memory of the friendship that he has experienced. Building strong ties between the United States and Asia is a core component of Shorenstein APARC's mission. Kondo will join the Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellows Program's ever-growing alumni network, connecting him to colleagues throughout Asia and to Shorenstein APARC and Stanford scholars for many years to come.