Weihai Zhan

Hometown: New Britain, CT

Areas of interest within Population Health: Infectious & Chronic Diseases

Title of Thesis/Dissertation: Birth Cohort Effect on Hearing Loss in Adults

Brief Interest Statement: Bachelor of medicine. Working in the disease prevention related institutes in China for more than 7 years. Master of Science in epidemiology.

What experiences in your life led you to study population/public health? “Get out of our village!” a crowd of people shouted, pushing a young couple with luggage out of my neighbor’s house. This was not the set of a film. I knew those people — they were nice. I did not know why they were so furious. The young couple was strange to me but they did not look like they deserved the treatment they were receiving. Later my mom told me that the couple was related to our neighbor, who had fled Shanghai, China where a major epidemic of hepatitis A was spreading. The hospitals were full of patients and schools were closed. Approximately 310,000 Shanghai citizens had been infected with hepatitis A within one month, an outbreak caused by the ingestion of contaminated shellfish. It was in February of 1988 that I decided to dedicate my career to public health, because I would never forget that a disease or contaminated food could make people so furious and helpless.

 

Why did you choose UW-Madison for your degree? To stay with my family and the reputation of UW-Madison.

What do you hope/plan to do with your degree? Academic research.