Ruoxi Chen

The exploration

My development into public health began with a simple conviction: that true well-being must reach the individual. Whether sitting side-by-side with a child in "Beautiful Hearts" or listening to dreams in a rural classroom, I saw that data and policies gain life only when grounded in personal stories and emotions.

To bridge the individual and the systemic, I expanded my reach into broader contexts. Hospital volunteering revealed the lack of human connection in healthcare, while co-producing videos to disseminate evidence-based health knowledge for my father's People's Daily Health channel—translating my professional insights on elderly eye health from my internship at ZEISS into accessible content—taught me how to turn complex medical knowledge into actionable public understanding. Meanwhile, rural fieldwork allowed me to grasp the "last-mile" gap between policy and reality. Together, these experiences painted a complete picture: public health is a complex endeavor requiring balance among scientific rigor, effective communication, and human empathy.

This path has taught me that the future of public health demands the ability to integrate diverse perspectives and translate insight into action—a skill I honed leading economic competitions and research projects. I am eager to further develop this interdisciplinary approach at university, merging data, stories, science, and community to build more resilient and equitable health systems.