Expanding Healthcare Delivery

Chia Health Fellows

Continue Expanding Healthcare Delivery

For more than 20 years, Yale-China’s Chia Fellowship has served as a springboard for Chinese women in health professions to improve the health outcomes of local communities in Hunan and Yunnan provinces through research and community service projects in nursing and public health. These women have achieved impressive accomplishments: since their fellowships, Chia Fellows are twice as likely to hold Doctorate degrees; appointments of associate professor or higher; or supervisor, director, or president titles. Most significantly, Chia Fellows use their leadership and influence to innovate, collaborate, serve underserved communities, and pay forward what they’ve learned to a new generation of health professionals.

Here are some of their success stories:

Bridging Healthcare Gaps in Rural Communities & Championing Eye Health Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among China’s working age population. China has more than 100 million people suffering from diabetes, but only approximately 6,000 retina specialists. Rural areas such as Western Hunan are particularly lacking in access to retinal care. Dr. Luo Jing, Xiangya Chia Fellow ’08, has made it her mission to bridge those gaps, training more general eye doctors in rural areas to educate, treat, and prevent ocular fundus diseases like diabetic retinopathy. It was during her Chia Fellowship that Luo discovered her passion for serving vulnerable communities. She was one of the few eye doctors to treat eye diseases related to HIV/AIDS, blazing a trail and helping reduce the discrimination that prevented many HIV/AIDS patients from accessing care. “One thing is the same,” she says. “Serving others brings the same value no matter if you are in the U.S. or in China. It’s that service that continues to impact the work we do today.” Currently an ophthalmologist at the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Luo remains committed to serving underserved populations. She established the Hunan Ocular Fundus Disease Alliance and developed artificial intelligence (AI) systems in 2020 for diabetic retinopathy screening and health education in Western Hunan. With help from the Chia Community Service Program and substantial support from the government, 190 county hospitals have joined the alliance and use AI systems for screening for fundus disease, allowing patients remote access to retina specialists without traveling hundreds of miles to the next major city of Changsha. “Preventing and screening diabetic retinopathy in its early stage is the most efficient way to prevent avoidable blindness,” says Luo. “I think U.S. and Chinese health professionals can work together to share AI-mediated prevention systems and improve healthcare delivery in rural areas.” Improving Healthcare Delivery & Education for Women from the Top Dr. Yan Guixin, Western Hunan Chia Fellow ‘18, is an infertility expert, creating a precedent for hysteroscopy in diagnosing and treating gynecological diseases in Huayuan County in the Western Hunan Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, an underserved rural region that has more than 40 ethnic groups. Recently promoted to the President of Huayuan County People’s Hospital, she established an infertility department and opened a specialty outpatient clinic to further standardize the diagnosis and treatment process and close the infertility gap in local communities. In 2020, Yan established the Chia Fellows Association at Huayuan County People’s Hospital, promoting

“Serving others brings the same value no matter if you are in the U.S. or in China. It’s that service that continues to impact the work we do today.”

—Dr. Luo Jing, Xiangya Chia Fellow ’08

chronic disease prevention and management through fellowship projects. “I am proud to continue Yale-China’s valuable work at my hospital,” she says. “Chia Fellows take the lead in planning and developing their projects, while Yale-China connects them with partner institutions and professional teams to ensure their projects run smoothly and have a broad impact. For grassroots health professionals, this kind of comprehensive support structure is very meaningful.” From Working with the Elderly in New Haven to Serving as a Geriatric Healthcare Expert in China For Dr. Feng Hui, Xiangya Chia Fellow ‘07, a series of visits to veterans’ shelters and nursing homes during her Fellowship in New Haven solidified her interest in geriatric health promotion. “I started to focus on the research of health promotion of the older population with the support of my supervisor from the School of Nursing at Yale University,” she reminisces. “It was because of my work with veterans that I confirmed my doctoral research project, ‘The effect of group reminiscence therapy on depressed elderly in communities.’” Today, Feng is one of the preeminent authorities on geriatric health in China, with her work receiving international acclaim. As the leader of geriatric care and chronic disease management at the Xiangya Nursing School of Central South University, Feng is widely known for developing an elderly intelligent health management system, Health Xiaoya, which combines geriatric medicine, preventive care, and rehabilitation with artificial intelligence. This system has been widely promoted and applied in China, reinforcing the pivotal role nursing plays for the promotion of healthy aging. Feng and her team won first prize for Science and Technology Progress in Hunan Province, a breakthrough accomplishment in Xiangya Nursing’s 100-year history. Feng, who was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) in 2021 for her outstanding contributions to nursing practice, research, and education, continues to embody the Yale-China spirit of giving back and galvanizing the next generation of health professionals. She established the Xiangya Nursing Collaborative Innovation Platform to provide students with innovation laboratories, industrialization bases, and research sites. She also founded Health Zhongnan, the first student-oriented National Science Popularization Base providing health education to underprivileged communities, which won the Hunan Province Outstanding Science Award.

Left: Western Hunan Chia Fellows from Huayuan County People’s Hospital Right: Western Hunan Chia Fellows from Fenghuang County People’s Hospital

Impact By the Numbers health

The Chia Family Health Fellowship provides training opportunities for female Chinese health professionals, starting in Changsha in 1998, expanding to Kunming in 2008, and to rural minority areas in Western Hunan in 2012.

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Female health professionals from the Xiangya health system and Kunming Medical University trained at Yale

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Female health professionals from minority areas in Western Hunan trained at Central South University Xiangya Medical School and its affiliated hospitals

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Fellow-intiated research and community service projects to improve health in rural communities, addressing areas such as: • Cognitive function in the elderly • Mental health services • Using AI to diagnose autism • Diabetes management training