Professor honored with the Young Professional Award in International Health

Adjunct faculty Thinh Vu, a member of York’s Department of Health and Human Performance, recently presented at APHA 2024.

Vu presented at the 2024 American Public Health Association (APHA) Meeting and Expo in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this past October. He gave three insightful presentations addressing crucial public health challenges faced by family caregivers of lung cancer patients in a lower-middle income country.

For his research, Vu was presented with the Young Professional Award in International Health, recognizing his “significant contributions to the field through leadership, innovation, and impactful practice.”

The APHA Annual Meeting, renowned as one of the largest and most influential gatherings of public health professionals globally, attracts approximately 13,000 experts annually. This year’s conference is set to provide a platform for groundbreaking research and discussions on vital public health issues.

Vu’s three abstracts—two oral and one poster— are based on his research entitled “Mental health concerns, resilience, and quality of life among informal family caregivers of hospitalized lung cancer patients in a lower-middle income country.”  The study is supported by the Cancer Epidemiology Education in Special Populations at CUNY School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine’s Career Advancement for Research in Health Equity, the Dean’s Dissertation Award and Graduate Student Government Association at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, and the Point Foundation. This contribution helps bring light towards the hardship of caregiving to cancer patients within low resource settings and highlights the importance of providing mental health support and interventions to caregivers.

“I am profoundly thankful for the Young Professional Award, which has greatly reinforced my research efforts,” says Vu. “This recognition highlights my commitment to fostering innovative research and empowering emerging public health scholars to make meaningful contributions to the field, especially in international health.”