Research Projects
Learning Health and Health Service Research using Big Data

This research project provides students with the ample opportunity to acquire research expertise and knowledge in health and health service research for patients with non-communicable diseases using big data. Over 10 million patients from the electronic health record in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom are available. The students will have an opportunity to work with specialists in family medicine, other health professionals such as nurses and pharmacists, epidemiologist and medical statisticians etc. The students will also have chance to involve various studies that might be published in the international journals. The training in advanced programming (R and Stata), literature review and research writing will be provided. The research attachment emphasizes on experiential learning and guided independent research on a topic to be agreed upon between the students and supervisor. We welcome any new research questions from the students. The current potential research topics include (i) prediction of hospital readmission in patients with chronic diseases including diabetes or hypertension; (ii) the optimal intervals for monitoring laboratory biomarkers in patients with diabetes and hypertension; and (iii) the trajectory of various laboratory biomarkers in patients with diabetes and hypertension

Selected students’ publications

1. Association between team-based continuity of care and risk of cardiovascular diseases among patients with diabetes: a retrospective cohort study. Diabetes Care. 2022
2. Age-specific associations between the number of comorbidities and all-cause mortality and public direct medical costs in patients with type 2 diabetes: a retrospective cohort study. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. 2022.
3. The association between trajectories of risk factors and risk of cardiovascular disease or mortality among patients with diabetes or hypertension: A systematic review. PLOS ONE. 2022.
4. Safety of an inactivated, whole-virion COVID-19 vaccine (CoronaVac) in people aged 60 years or older in Hong Kong: a modified self-controlled case series. The Lancet Healthy Longevity. 2022
5. Effects of continuity of care on health outcomes among patients with diabetes mellitus and/or hypertension: a systematic review.
6. Safety of an inactivated, whole-virion COVID-19 vaccine (CoronaVac) in people aged 60 years or older in Hong Kong: a modified self-controlled case series. The Lancet Healthy Longevity. 2022
7. Prediction Models and Nomograms of 10-year Risk of End-Stage Renal Disease in Chinese Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Primary Care. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. 2020. (IF 6.410; 30/146 in ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM)
8. Prediction models for the risk of cardiovascular diseases in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review. Journal of Public Health 186 (2020): 144-156; doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2020.06.020 (IF 5.058; 36/182 in PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH)
9. Vaccine effectiveness of BNT162b2 and CoronaVac against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 infection, hospitalisation, severe complications, cardiovascular disease and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus: A case control study. Journal of Infection. 2022.
10. Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and CoronaVac vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection in people aged 60 years or above: a case-control study. Journal of Travel Medicine. 2022.

Professor EYF Wan, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care

Professor Eric Wan is an experienced epidemiologist and medical statistician in health and health service research related to non-communicable disease using big data cohort study. He has published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed international journal, in particular the evaluation of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of various health interventions and services, and epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology in hypertension, diabetes and multi-morbidity.

Biography
Scholars Hub
ORCID
yfwan@hku.hk

For more information or to express interest for this project, please email the supervisor or the specified contact point in the project description.  Interested candidates are advised to enclose with your email:

1. your CV,
2. a brief description of your research interest and experience, and
3. two reference letters (not required for HKUMed UG students seeking MRes[Med]/URIS projects).

Information on the research programme, funding support and admission documentations could be referenced online at the Research Postgraduate Admissions website. General admission enquiries should be directed to rpgmed@hku.hk.

HKUMed MBBS students interested in the Master of Research in Medicine (MRes[Med]) programme may visit the programme website for more information.  

HKUMed UG students interested in the Undergraduate Research Internship Scheme (URIS) may visit the scheme’s website for more information.