Hongsheng Lu, a global health student at DKU, carried out 10 weeks of field research in Peru
Hongsheng Lu, a second-year graduate student in Duke Kunshan’s global health program, has received the Dean’s Award for Research from Duke Graduate School in recognition of his fieldwork in Peru and excellent academic performance.
Lu stood out from more than 700 students in over 80 programs to win the award, a newly introduced fellowship that comes with up to US$1,000 toward conference travel and research.
His research interests include non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the role technologies can play in the approach and treatment of NCDs, and the links between global health and medicine.
Hongsheng Lu
During his field research in Lima, Peru, in the summer of 2019, Lu explored the use of electronic health (e-health) technologies in primary care facilities for NCD service delivery. He and his team interviewed doctors in primary health care centers around the city, as well as researchers and experts.
‘Peru is a country in transition, including in its application of technology to health. In its current state, there is little to no technology being used specifically for NCD service delivery at the primary care level,’ Lu said.
E-health technologies are helping enhance primary care and other areas of health care, most notably infectious diseases and maternal health, and these models could be applied to NCD service delivery, he said. ‘But additional resources are needed to better train health care workers and improve infrastructure to deliver these technologies and their benefits.’
While in Peru, Lu received guidance from Dr. Jaime Miranda of the Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Cayetano Heredia University. With co-author Bing Xuan Ho, an undergraduate research assistant from Duke, Lu also published a commentary in the International Journal of Health Policy and Management on health care corruption in Peru and the actions young researchers and professionals can take to combat the problem.
Professor Lijing Yan, director of Duke Kunshan’s global health program and Lu’s primary supervisor, said Lu has shown a strong desire for research, having led several class projects and actively participated in outside-class research projects on NCD prevention.
Speaking of the newly introduced Dean’s Award for Research, Paula D. McClain, dean of Duke’s Graduate School, said: ‘Master’s students are a rapidly growing segment of our graduate student population and an integral part of the graduate community at Duke. This fellowship is part of our continuing efforts to provide greater support and opportunities for them in various aspects of their education.’
