Although the academic path is always considered lonely and challenging, Liang Yanshan's never is.

UIC PhD graduate in Chemistry (UIC and Hong Kong Baptist University)

Admitted to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Postdoctoral Programme

Graduating from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Southern Medical University with a bachelor's degree, she was admitted to the School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering at the South China University of Technology to study medical biology. Equipped with sound scientific research training and interest in scientific research, she decided to pursue a doctoral degree.

Liang believes that UIC can give full play to students' initiative and encourage its students to think and learn actively. Hence, she chose the joint doctoral program held by UIC and Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), utilising resources from both sides and graduated with a PhD from HKBU.

With her excellent performance during the 3-year study, she is admitted as a postdoctoral fellow by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Liang passes her graduation project defence

Achievements on the Way to Harvard University

During her doctoral study, her research mainly focused on quantification methods based on mass spectrometry and toxicological study on environmental pollutants with a multi-omics method. Led by the study on dioxins and triclosan, her research also centred around changes and effects of organisms exposed to environmental pollutants.

Through hard work, she published 12 papers in well-known academic journals, mainly as the first author, including Nature Communications, Environmental Science & Technology, Environment International, Science of the Total Environment, Analytica Chimica Acta, and more.

Liang at the State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis, Hong Kong Baptist University

In 2021, Liang won the Otto Hutzinger Student Award for Best Oral Presentation 2021 as one of the six winners.

In October 2022, Liang will attend Harvard University to start her postdoctoral study. She hopes to explore the pathogenesis of diseases and devote herself to scientific research on disease treatment methods. She plans to return to China after graduation to promote development in related fields.

From MPRO

Reporter: Liang Qianning

Photos provided by the interviewee

Editors: Cecilia Yu, Deen He