Alex Ewing - A fruitful summer internship at The George Institute

Alex Ewing was a young fellow from the US, yet he had a deep connection with China - he had once studied here, he spoke good Chinese, he was familiar with the Chinese culture and what's more, as an intern at the George Institute for Global Health at Peking University Health Science Center, he was provided a greater oppurtunity to get a comprehensive understanding about the Chinese people and one of the most important issues facing them - the healthcare in China. Let's see what he had learnt from his internship.

This was actually my second internship with the George Institute for Global Health at Peking University Health Science Center, the first coming when I was working full time teaching English. I had much less time and experience to devote to my projects then. After one year studying Epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I had the opportunity to come back and continue to learn and work here for the summer.

While here, I’ve been involved in many projects, notably the process evaluation of the Tibet SimCard study and the protocol for the proposed EDSS Seedgrant project in Liaoning. I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to Liaoning to participate in a trial for the validation of a new, smartphone based blood pressure device with my supervisor, Tian Maoyi and my fellow intern Elizabeth Sheehy. This is exactly the kind of real world experience that led me to choose to come to the George Institute to do my summer internship.

At the George Institute, I’ve had the opportunity to apply theory that I had acquired at school, and to expand the scope of my public health knowledge and experience. I’ve had the pleasure to work with fantastic colleagues, who have been kind enough to endure my poor Chinese and help me get the most out of my time here. I have valued my experience here and look forward to continuing my relationship with the George Institute in the future.