Hi, I’m Yiyu Li from China. I am a computer science student at UBC and am currently doing my first internship in Toronto as a software developer intern. This is my second bachelor’s degree. My first bachelor’s degree and master’s degree are in Nursing. I am interested in both technology and medicine, and I am passionate about improving medical care for patients with technology. This is one of the reasons I am now pursuing my second degree in Computer Science.

Back to my life in graduate school, I was interested in gestational diabetes mellitus. I once did a research project on a diabetes prevention program for rural women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus. For type 2 diabetes, patients are often offered lifestyle interventions as a treatment, including diet, exercise, glucose self-testing, and diabetes education. In that program, we found that using a mobile app as a way to guide them in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and help patients self-track those five issues was more efficient and effective. This is one example of how technology improves medical care for patients. I think there are more examples that show how technology is changing our lives, not just in the healthcare industry.

After graduation, my plan is to work as a software developer in a healthcare company to help them develop better tools. I already have some programming experience with Java, Python, C++, C and React. I am always willing to learn cutting-edge technologies and test my limits. I enjoy learning from hands-on experience and building cool applications. Therefore, I taught myself full-stack development skills by developing a web app for people with Type 2 diabetes. Although this is a very simple application that will not be deployed in the app store, I am still glad that I can do things that I am interested in and that are helpful for others.