Duke Kunshan University Humanities Research Center

This project examines aesthetic features supporting therapeutic urban green space in Shanghai. Urban green space promotes public health by providing a therapeutic opportunity in nature, and its therapeutic impacts have been identified in many cities. Although aesthetic beauty contributes to therapeutic impacts of green space, however, we still know little about features of aesthetic and therapeutic urban green space. Thus, this research analyzes these features by eliciting public preferences in Shanghai and applying a machine learning approach. This research would help policymakers to promote public health by identifying potential features of therapeutic urban green space. Continue reading “Aesthetic analysis of therapeutic urban green space in Shanghai”

This project has two stages, where the philosophical portion of the literature review is done prior to beginning the next stage. Research through literature review, participating in discussions regarding the readings, potential research questions that are applicable to COVID-19 pandemics, and will complete a research paper for publication or presentation. The paper will focus on the historical and ethical dimensions of disease controls, such as quarantine and contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemics from the aspects of individual liberty, state power, and the general welfare. The diversity of disease controls across the countries from different political systems, as well as different approaches and steps of enforcing the controls offer a great area of exploring its ethical and legal implications. We hope to investigate areas within public health ethics, which often emphasizes the state’s obligation to protect the health and general welfare of the population at hand. This would lead to further exploration of biopolitics, and how much individual liberty is valued by the various states. Continue reading “Student-lead Public Health Ethics Research Project”

Ovarian cancer, known to be the most lethal gynecologic cancer, is the leading type of cancer death in women worldwide. However, the most recent year in the study saw more decreases in funding for research on ovarian cancer than for research on other cancers. In addition, there is a huge critical knowledge discrepancy between patients and health professionals, and therefore raising public awareness of ovarian cancer is important. We aim to raise public awareness and highlight the need of more scientific research funds on ovarian cancer by filming a documentary. The documentary will include interviews that would mainly focus on how ovarian cancer influences patients’, doctors’ and scientific researchers’ lives. Meanwhile, we are looking into potential solutions by conducting scientific research in both Professor Tsigou and Professor Zhang-Negriere’s lab. Under the professional guidance of Professor Henderson, the documentary will showcase the tangible experiences of the patients involved and how each stakeholder plays an important role in this issue. The end of the day, the public will be informed on the ongoing issues with ovarian cancer and in turn support on relevant initiatives. Continue reading “Ovarian Cancer Documentary”

Facial expression is a crucial nonverbal channel of pain communication that is often incorporated in clinical assessment and treatment. It is known that underestimation of minorities’ facial expressions of pain would lead to further racial disparities in pain care. However, research so far has been mainly conducted in Western countries. Little is known about how pain is assessed through facial expressions in other sociocultural contexts and the influences of race. Therefore, the primary aim of this research is to address this gap by focusing on how foreign patients’ facial expressions of pain are decoded in Chinese society. An online experiment will be conducted to examine Chinese participants’ evaluation of foreigners’ pain intensity and authenticity through their facial expressions. An additional aim of the project is to investigate possible underlying mechanisms by studying the Chinese participants’ pain beliefs and empathy. Such data will show the racial-related propensity of the decoding of pain expressions, which will reduce the risk of misunderstanding foreign patients’ pain and improve cross-cultural pain assessment and treatment. Continue reading “Can Chinese accurately recognize pain from foreigners’ facial expressions?”

Public Square 2.0 is a video-based multi-projection installation about people’s interactions within the public space, as a reflection of people’s relationships within a community in Beijing under the COVID-19 context. The videos screened within are documentations of human interactions in a community in Beijing during the COVID-19 outbreak from March to August in 2020. Each video highlights different parts of a communal square, documenting individuals and their daily activities within it at different times. Continue reading “Public Square 2.0”

Exposure to ethnic violence instigates a wide range of psychiatric disorders, and the prevalence of mental health problems in conflict zones is more than double the average prevalence of mental disorders worldwide. Still, scholars know very little about the coping mechanisms available to individuals in post-conflict settings (Ng et al. 2020). This project fills in this gap by examining the mental health of ethnic conflict survivors in Konso—an Ethiopian region where ongoing inter-ethnic violence has resulted in the displacement of 132,000 people, more than 75 deaths, and severe damages to lands, crops, and livestock. Using the HHL funding, we interviewed 200 conflict survivors in three refugee camps. We use individual-level data on stressors, coping mechanisms, and conflict exposure and community-level data on the severity of the conflict to explain the variation in mental health symptoms of internally displaced persons. This project makes important contributions to global mental health research by (1) evaluating the extent to which depression, anxiety, and PTSD exist among conflict survivors in Ethiopia; (2) examining whether the choice of coping strategy affects the longitudinal mental health consequences of conflict exposure; and (3) examining how coping mechanisms can inform community-based mental health interventions in post-conflict settings. Continue reading “The Mental Health Consequences of Ethnic Violence: Assessing Needs and Low-Cost Interventions”

MediHealth Podcast is a student-led science podcast, bridging the gap between health professionals and the general public. Our podcast offers scientifically justified responses to the questions of public health and wellbeing. Anyone who wishes to gain insight into medicine and its repercussions on public or global health will benefit from engaging with this platform. Professionals in the field of health, including professors, consultants, students, and many more would share their experiences and thoughts on hot topics through engaging and thought-provoking interviews. Our project team includes the planning team, interviewers team, audio editors team, journalists team, and social media team. The podcast episodes are uploaded every Monday at 10pm China time on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and 喜马拉雅. The links to the website, social media and various podcast platforms can be found here: https://medihealth.carrd.co/ Follow us on Instagram, WeChat, and LinkedIn to get the most updated information from MediHealth Podcast! Continue reading “MediHealth Podcast”

The WHO report on the Origins of COVID-19 suggest that the COVID-19 did not originate from the wet market in Wuhan, nor was manufactured in a lab. The most likely culprit is zoonotic transfer. 75% of newly emerging diseases are zoonotic. The risk of zoonotic transfer has been increasing due to anthropogenic impacts on wildlife and their habitats, as well as climate change. Yet, the ecological basis of COVID-19 appears to have not been widely acknowledged outside environmental communities. Various reasons may be at play, including psychological denial, the types of media consumed and misinformation. Therefore, we propose using a simple framed experiment in the context of a policy referendum to examine the question: How does exposure to misinformation about the origins of COVID-19 affect the public’s support for policy measures that scientists believe will reduce the risk of future pandemics? Continue reading “How Misinformation Affects Public Support for Policies that Reduce Pandemic Risk”

This project aims to create and exhibit (in the space of a website) a collection of infographics and episodic documentaries that explain the science of endometriosis and address the situation of endometriosis in China from a patient-centered perspective. The primary focus is the making of the documentary series which will target endometriosis patients at The Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University (Red House Hospital). This project serves two major purposes: 1) spread awareness of endometriosis and related female experiences among the Chinese audience; 2) record and archive the stories of Chinese endometriosis patients so as to provide referential materials for the field of research in medical anthropology and patient-centered care. Continue reading “Endometriosis in China: Documentary-focused Educational Website-building”