Meet current AFLSE scholar Tina Huang
Scholarship recipient Tina Huang shares how her ambitions have been shaped and enabled by the generosity of the Alumni and Friends of LSE in the US (AFLSE).
"I was incredibly honored to be awarded the 2021-22 AFLSE Scholarship to do my Master’s of Science in International Health Policy at LSE. The year has flown by, and I find it hard to believe just how much I have learned! My classmates and professors are truly incredibly to learn from, and I have felt very fortunate this whole year to be in such a curious and open community.
Prior to joining LSE, I studied at Harvard University. Whilst there I interned at a prominent pharmaceutical company and was involved in launching new medical devices to developing countries. This opened my eyes to the many ways health policy and medicine intersect and lead me to seek out policy experience with the Institute of Politics, where I worked with the Massachusetts State Senate to develop research and policy briefings concerning public health issues in Boston.
After Harvard, I decided to go to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where I have furthered my interest in policy and oncology. My research into the cost-effectiveness and health services in medical and radiation oncology has resulted in multiple first-author publications and I have presented at national conferences.
I wanted to come to LSE to further understand the complex financial and policy frameworks of healthcare and I am incredibly grateful that I have been able to work with Professor Elias Mossialos and his research team looking at policies surrounding the global consumption and utilization of oncology drugs.
I have also been fortunate enough to be offered a summer internship with NHS Cancer’s strategy and policy team, working to identify key areas within specific cancer types to improve the early diagnosis rates of cancer in the UK.
The knowledge gained and experiences I’ve had this year have been transformative in the way I view health policy and decision making, and I look forward to returning to the US to pursue my career in academic oncology and integrating medicine and health policy to make oncologic care in the US more affordable and accessible. I am enormously grateful to the US alumni and the AFLSE board for making my year at LSE possible.
Tina Huang (MSc International Health Policy 2022)
