Apurva Sawhney

While most international students at JCSPHPC are there for their programme of choice, Apurva Sawhney has lived in Hong Kong since she was a teenager. “I’ve done my high schooling here, undergraduate degree, and now my master’s with JCSPHPC,” she says. “I did one year of the MPH here, but I’ve also worked with different department teams for the past three years.”

Sawhney previously did lab work at the Prince of Wales Hospital. But as much as she loved the job, she realised that it wasn’t the best fit for her skills and potential – she wanted to work with people and carry out her research. That’s when she discovered the MPH programme at JCSPHPC.

“The MPH stood out to me as a nice bridge to move towards something that’s more policy and people-driven,” she says. “I wanted to get into drug discovery and development, but also reach the people who need these medications – figure out gaps in the system. So I chose to do a concentration in health systems, policy and management.” 

The experience has been fulfilling. Sawhney created health campaigns, held focus group discussions, and even helped mentor some students throughout her time in the MPH. To complete her programme, she produced a thesis that focused on South Asian communities and their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours towards HPV vaccines. 

“I wanted to understand the socioeconomic factors, the culture, the religion, and so on that affect views on the HPV vaccine, as sex is a taboo topic for most Asian communities,” she says. “My thesis supervisor had projects related to this that the university was already supporting, giving me the platform to explore topics like this.”

She’s currently a research assistant at the university, working on collaborative research projects alongside accomplished professors. Overall, Sawhney genuinely enjoys the environment and experience at JCSPHPC, describing it as a place where she can see her overall growth and skill development. 

“There’s no strict hierarchy; your professors are always keen to talk to you in and out of class, discuss their experiences and stories, or just listen to you. They’re humble, down-to-earth, and overall represent the CUHK concept of learning with excellence and virtue.”