Dr. Cindy Yeung (PhD’23) is the 2024 University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy Alumni Achievement Award recipient. This award recognizes and celebrates pharmacy alumni who impact the health and wellbeing of society through professional work and/or public service contribution.
Dr. Yeung began her PhD journey at the School of Pharmacy with one goal in mind, to build a better world.
“I feel grateful to be recognized on my efforts to transform research. I took on a PhD for this reason,” says Dr. Yeung. “This award reminds me how Waterloo was the turning point in my career and I am fortunate that this pivot led me to a fulfilling career.”
After completing her Honours BSc in Life Sciences from the University of Toronto, her heart was set on a career as a healthcare provider. But two formative research experiences during her undergraduate studies sparked a passion within her for research, at SickKids Hospital, where she worked on an outcome measure for patients with cerebral palsy, and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she studied the effects of alternative medicine.
This newfound passion led her to an MSc in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University, where she developed clinical practice guidelines for patients with hemophilia. While working as a research co-ordinator, Yeung met Dr. Andrea Edington, professor and hallman director at Waterloo Pharmacy, and discovered the world of pharmacokinetics.
“Typically, those who enter a computationally intensive field in pharmacometrics come from either a Pharmacy, Engineering, Math or Statistics background. I came from an entirely different path!” she says. “But I was instantly drawn to using pharmacokinetic mathematical modeling and simulation to improve patient care.”
Her PhD focused on physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling to help physicians advise breastfeeding mothers on medication safety. The start of her PhD had a steep learning curve, due to Yeung’s different educational background that tested and pushed her.
“I spent many late nights in the lab learning about pharmacokinetic concepts and how to code. In my first few attempts I also failed at getting scholarships,” she says.
Leaning on developing lifelong work-life balance habits through running, painting and caring for her first pet, Ume her cat, Dr. Yeung found her footing and found herself brimming with research ideas.
Her perseverance and determination led to receive prestigious doctoral funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for her PhD project on pediatric PBPK modeling to advance knowledge of infant exposure to maternal medications.
As she continued her PhD she embraced leadership as she took on the roles of president of the Pharmacy Graduate Student Association, vice president academic of the Graduate Student Association and a working member of the President’s Antiracism Taskforce, all unknowingly at the time, setting her on a new career path, one in academia.
After her PhD, Dr. Yeung returned to SickKids as a postdoctoral researcher, where she earned the 2023-2024 CIHR Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, ranked 13 out of 182 international and national postdoctoral researchers for her work on precision dosing in neonatal care.
All of these experiences prepared her for her current role as an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy at Dalhousie University.
She now runs an independent research program focused on translating mathematical models to significantly advance our understanding of drug pharmacokinetics, what happens to the drug inside the body, in understudied populations.
Beyond research, growing up Yeung always enjoyed mentorship and teaching, from volunteering as a Big Sister with the PAL and Girls Linking Our World programs of Big Brothers Big Sisters, to guiding PharmD students through their journey during her PhD.
In her spare time, she enjoys sketching, pottery, painting, singing, running, Pilates, travelling, trying out new recipes and solving crosswords. One of her biggest tips to those also striving to build a better world is to find anchor points outside of work like these to keep yourself grounded.
Dr. Yeung’s journey reflects the spirit of the Alumni Achievement Award where her perseverance, innovation and commitment to improving patient care shine through.