Research and Engagement: Student Highlight - MJ Le Vu

Quick Facts:
● Major: Population Health
● Graduating Year: Class of 2026
● Hometown: Hanoi, Vietnam
● Lehigh Activities: Research Collaboration with Professors
● Hobbies & Personal Interests: Music and Art, Architecture

Personal Hobbies and Interests
I have a major interest in the arts. I have played piano since I was 7 years old, so I’ve been playing for 12 years. I also have a minor in Architecture Studio, so I am exploring that area. I haven’t had much experience with painting or architecture, so that’s why I am covering more of that now!

Introduction to Research and Health
My mom works in a hospital, and so ever since I was a young child I went with my mother and hung around in the hospital halls. I was not involved in doctor's work like curing diseases and performing surgeries, I just kind of walked around, but seeing patients coming in and coming out and health practitioners doing their work and helping the patients inspired me a lot. Starting high school, I volunteered to play piano in the hospital hall and during my senior year I also did a little research on art therapy in the hospital. The time I spent hanging around the hospital when I was young inspired the work I do when I'm older, and that is why I decided to pursue health education!

I think that research is very important because data and numbers give us evidence for interventions and policy. Everything we want to do, it has to be backed up by data. That is what motivates me to continue research!

Research Trajectory: Art, Vaccines, Public Health
Before I came to Lehigh, I took a gap year, and during that year I did a lot of research and published 5 research articles with a research hub in Vietnam. Most of them were just published when I came here.

My first research was on art therapy and children, and so it is very much a combination of arts and sciences. That was my very first published research. After that, I went into public health more, about vaccine hesitancy, as well as post-COVID symptoms in the Vietnamese population. Most of my latest research is about Vietnam’s response to COVID, and we focused on in the future what policies we would implement for future pandemics, and that was an opinion piece that was published.

Here at Lehigh, I’m currently a first year, so I’m brushing up on my research skills and quantitative skills so I can help my professors with more research in later years. When I came to Lehigh, I had a class with Professor Gómez on global health, and we talked about health policy a lot. I think that is what I want to be exploring in Lehigh. After Lehigh, I want to go to grad school and get a PhD if I am lucky enough to find a position. After that, my dream is to work for an NGO.

The Research Journey: Strengths and Weaknesses
When we get accepted to a research team, what we're usually assigned to is mostly systematic literature review to provide a base knowledge for the later stages - because we haven't had the experience and knowledge to develop research methods or analyze data. For the first few months of my year this is basically all I do, although later I got the chance to help in other stages too. I did that a lot during my gap year! This literature review stage is very beneficial to me because I got the chance to read up on different health issues and have a broader knowledge about health research and what should be included in the introduction, discussion, and all of that. I was fortunate to be able to actually write the research. My advice here would be to read a lot of research and get the writing flow of the writers so you can learn from their idea organization, academic word choices and find your own style!

I think my biggest weakness is my lack of knowledge on data analysis. I haven’t had a formal education about data analysis before coming here, so that is what I am focusing on at Lehigh!

Inspiring Courses at Lehigh
I want to talk more about Professor Gómez’s class, because that truly inspired me a lot. Before coming here, I had experience with research, and so I had a set direction going in; I knew what I wanted to do and what I wanted to focus on, mostly quantitative research and data. But while attending Intro to Global Health class, I realized that there are other areas that I can also explore - policy and health have such a close and interesting relationship. I think that’s the beauty of the College of Health — that we get options for us to explore, even about things we haven’t thought about!

Advice to Other Students
I think we should all reach out to faculty here at the College of Health more, and in all of Lehigh University. I think they’re very friendly and very open to students doing research with them, so that is a very fortunate opportunity that we should all explore!