Dr. Suwei Wang
PHD FELLOW ALUMNI | Global Change Center
Senior Manager in Patient Centered Outcomes at Takeda Pharmaceuticals
VT Alumni April 2021, Population Health Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Julia Gohlke
Google Scholar • suwei@vt.edu
Suwei completed her PhD in Dr. Julia Gohlke’s lab in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Virginia Tech, in Translational Biology, Medicine and Health (TBMH). She is interested in learning how environmental changes impact human health, and her research focused on estimating personal heat exposure.
Suwei earned her Bachelor of Science from China Agricultural University and a Master of Biomanufacturing from North Carolina State University. She studied how to manufacture biopharmaceutical ingredients such as recombinant proteins and antibodies in various microorganisms and the following purification process. She also learned FDA regulations of novel medicine Research and Development and Good Manufacturing Practice.
After graduating, Suwei worked at Merck North Carolina site for half a year as a deviation author. When something went wrong in the manufacturing process, Suwei and her teammates explored the root cause, evaluated the impact on the quality of products, and came up with corrective action and preventative actions if needed.
When she began her studies at VT, Suwei completed three lab rotations in her first year. She developed a keen interest in environmental health, a core discipline within public health that focuses on the environmental factors affecting human health. She joined the Gohlke lab in July 2018 and genuinely enjoyed the interdisciplinary research conducted in her group. Suwei successfully completed her doctoral degree in April of 2021, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke’s School of Medicine. As of 2023, she is now a Senior Manager in Patient-Centered Outcomes, Global Evidence and Outcome, R&D at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
The ICG IGEP provides PhD students with a unique intellectual focus and training, gaining depth in their specific scientific area of expertise, while simultaneously gaining breadth in the multifaceted realm of global change and the science-policy interface.
When students complete our program, they remain part of our broad community by becoming part of our Global Alumni Network. Our alumni are invited to participate in our graduate seminar courses, provide keynote remarks at our annual graduate research symposium, return to Virginia Tech for GCC gatherings, network with current students regarding career opportunities, and stay connected to each other.
