Esther Cheng
Esther Cheng
Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) graduated 2022
Bachelor of Public Health graduated 2021
It was a steep learning curve, but I felt very supported, and I’m walking away confident in the new skills I’ve learnt, especially around latent class mixed models and regression analysis. The whole process has taught me important skills that will help me apply scientific rigour to my future work.
"I know medicine and nursing are attractive and well-known career pathways for those wanting to help improve health and quality of life, but they aren’t the only options," reflects recent graduate Esther, when considering why she chose to enrol in our Bachelor of Public Health.
Esther applied to Monash for her studies because of the rich public health curriculum, and the placement opportunity available in the third year of study.
"I loved that our teachers brought their experience and examples gained from their own real-world practice to our classes. Our assessment tasks were similarly grounded in real-world contexts; I remember having to critically evaluate a report of health policy around COVID-19, which was very timely."
Fascinated by what she learnt along the way, Esther enrolled in an Honours year with our School, under the supervision of A/Professor Bernadette Fitzgibbon, Doctor Prudence Carr and Doctor Mojtaba Lotfaliany.
"There may be a variety of sources of pain in older age, which may be transient or chronic in nature, or intense or mild, depending on the causes. Pain over time can be a debilitating experience with well known impacts on physical and mental health, and quality of life. We wanted to know if there were associations between changes in pain intensity over time, and cognitive changes including dementia risk in older adults."
Using pain trajectory modelling undertaken by her supervisors, Esther followed their guidance to interpret the data and understand the associations with cognitive function change. She found that high pain severity is significantly associated with longitudinal change in cognitive function in a healthy older population, specifically in memory (delayed memory), language (verbal fluency), executive function, and psychomotor speed.
"With pain being a common experience during older age, I hope my findings will contribute to better identification of individuals at increased risk of cognitive decline, so they can receive preventive support measures."
The highly statistical nature of the research stretched Esther to her limits, but with a commitment to learn as much as she could by reading literature and watching online statistical tutorials, coupled with support from her supervisors, she completed the project.
"It was a steep learning curve, but I felt very supported, and I’m walking away confident in the new skills I’ve learnt, especially around latent class mixed models and regression analysis. The whole process has taught me important skills that will help me apply scientific rigour to my future work.
"I always liked the idea of promoting health among an entire population, and I find public health unique in how diverse it is in terms of career options. I could help avoid spread of emerging diseases like COVID-19 or monkeypox, or improve our understanding of determinants of non-communicable diseases like cancer or heart disease, or advise on health policy to improve health service delivery."
And Esther is doing just that. She's used her time with us as a launchpad to further study at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, one of the most prestigious medical Universities in the world.