Rowing on the Cam, meeting the future king of England and enjoying stimulating interdisciplinary conversation – Grace Yin (Population Health Sciences MPhil 2021) has made the most of her year at Gonville & Caius College.

Grace is from Toronto and a medical student at Queen’s University, Canada. She is the equivalent of an intercalating medic, using the pause between her pre-clinical and clinical studies to attend Caius and the University of Cambridge on full funding as an HRH The Prince of Wales Commonwealth Scholar.

“This year has been a really formative and special year,” Grace says. “Caius has an incredible medical history so for a medical student like me, it’s been incredible to be part of that and be surrounded by early players in the fields of health and medicine.

“It’s also been a really intellectually stimulating environment. I’ve been blown away by how passionate and devoted my peers are about the various areas they’re studying. It’s a place of incredible intellectual curiosity, which has been fantastic to be part of.

“For anyone considering, I would strongly recommend taking a year out to pursue something like this. Being in Cambridge for this year and pursuing my MPhil has challenged me and broadened my perspective in very positive ways.

Being in Cambridge for this year and pursuing my MPhil has challenged me and broadened my perspective in very positive ways

“A big part of that has been through dialogue with other students. Cambridge and Caius draws students of such international backgrounds it’s been wonderful to get to know and form close friendships with truly talented, kind, and incredible people from all over the globe. 

“Hopefully this year will equip me to be a better physician in future, but it’s also given me more than that. It’s strengthened my commitment to global health, challenged me to think more critically, and helped to clarify the role that I might be able to personally play one day in making a difference. It’s been an incredibly valuable year.”

Grace was born to parents who were immigrants and grew up in the multicultural city of Toronto. Global health has long been on her radar; this academic interest was not prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s an area that is quite rewarding and can be really meaningful to work within,” she adds. “But it’s important to do it well, wisely, and with sustainability in mind. Over the last few years, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can acquire some of the fundamental competencies and knowledge base in research, advocacy, and community development to better equip me to work with under-resourced communities in some capacity in future.”

Grace’s thesis is looking at retinal imaging as a possible biomarker or predictor for incident dementia, using data from a long-term study led by Cambridge Professor Nick Wareham, The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

“Over the last decade or so, a growing body of research has been emerging which identifies vision – specifically visual impairment or poor vision – as a modifiable risk factor for dementia and accelerated cognitive decline, and a few pathways related to neurodegeneration and altered cognitive load have been postulated,” she adds.

A second component of Grace’s thesis is looking at the global health landscape for a novel vision-based screening tool, such as retinal imaging, for dementia.

“Everything from what would be needed for a low or middle-income country to increase their capacity to diagnose dementia in this way, to critically looking at how to strengthen resources and clinical care pathways needed to support patients and caregivers across diverse cultural, linguistic, and geographical contexts,” she says.

“The intersection of vision and global health is a very special, meaningful, and impactful area to be a part of. I would love the opportunity to keep pursuing it to see where it takes me.”  

Vision health and ophthalmology are possible specialisms in future, but Grace acknowledges it is early in her career.

She has learnt numerous new skills in Cambridge, not least to row, racing on the Thames in London with the 2nd women’s VIII at WeHORR, and winning blades with the 3rd women’s VIII in May Bumps. She also met the Prince of Wales, whose Commonwealth scholarship, administered by the Cambridge Trust, covers her tuition, accommodation and maintenance fees.

She adds: “The support from the Cambridge Trust has been critical in allowing me to pursue this MPhil. The financial cost, especially for international students under overseas fees, can be significant. I’m really grateful for all the support I’ve received from Caius and Cambridge – both financial and beyond – which has made this year really special.”