Denise Ng

Focusing on Health Informatics

Working in a pediatric clinic after graduating from her bachelor’s degree provided the inspiration for Denise Ng’s graduate research. While the clinic was transferring from paper to electronic records, she noticed a gap between the new software’s capabilities and the needs of the clinic.  Focusing on health informatics and health service research, her Master’s thesis explores the level of risk perceived by patients when they are asked to provide patient experience feedback via smart-phone technology. By analyzing patient attitudes towards information disclosure and mobile Health (mHealth) usability, Denise is working towards understanding the circumstances which are appropriate for smartphone-facilitated patient feedback.  

Experience beyond research

Denise's experience in the Master’s program at the Faculty of Health extends beyond research, exposing her to experiential learning as part of the course. She spent one term as a Research Assistant at the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre. There, she worked with the Jamii team, a group consisting of talented individuals in user experience design, programming and entrepreneurship. Jamii - meaning “community” in Swahili - is an online virtual incubator program for individuals who want to pursue entrepreneurship and the team aims to provide entrepreneurial teams with tools, learning materials and a network to launch their ventures.  Denise worked with the team by helping them develop an understanding of what the latest research has shown regarding online learning communities.  She also developed a research protocol to understand the needs of the entrepreneurs working with Jamii. 

Making technology accessible 

Denise attributes her rich Master’s experience to the opportunities available to her at the School of Public Health and Health Systems. In just under two years, Denise’s research, practical experience and connections have placed her in a unique position to accomplish her end goal;