Bio
Yalu Zhang is a doctoral student at the Columbia School of Social Work, focusing on medical poverty and health care policies in both China and the US. She studies the impacts of social and economic factors on health and aging across multiple domains including physical frailty, cognitive functions, and health-seeking behaviors. She also researches the health financing policy strategies and cost-sharing structures of both China and the US and the effectiveness of health insurance among urban and rural residents in China by using macro- and micro-data. Previously, Yalu was a Care Transitions Coach and assisted low-income patients discharged from three hospitals in New York City to be more effective and active in their own health care. She was a consultant at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy during 2013-14 and was a research fellow at the National Council on Aging during 2014-15.