Wenzhen (Jen) Zuo

Dr. Wenzhen (Jen) Zuo (She/her/hers) is a first-generation immigrant from China who grew up as a francophone in Montréal, Québec. She is currently a re-entry third-year resident in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She received her Medical Doctorate at the Université de Montréal and trained in family medicine at McGill University. She completed her Family-Medicine R3 in hospitalist medicine at UBC, after which she practised as a hospitalist in Vancouver Coastal Health. She has recently completed a Master of Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom with a Chevening Scholarship. After the MPH, she started working as a consultant for the World Health Organization in the Health Workforce department on global public health workforce strengthening.

As for her public health interests, she is an advocate for health equity, climate change, infectious disease prevention and control and public health emergencies. She completed her master’s thesis on the impact of the Vancouver 2021 Heat Dome on the morbidity of acute-care patients in VGH and has a general interest in climate-health mitigation and adaptation. She is also interested in healthcare system planning and adaptation to the growing needs of the ageing population. Her clinical experience in pandemic response sparked her interest in health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. She is involved with the World Medical Association and has been chairing the Pandemic Working Group since 2021. She has followed and participated as a WMA representative in the international negotiations for the new Pandemic Instrument with the International Negotiating Body and the amendments of the International Health Regulation 2005 at the World Health Organisation.

Outside of work, Jen loves all arts, more especially music. She plays the violin and adores the symphonies of Mahler. She DJs ethnic house and techno music. She sails in summer and enjoys Alpine and Cross-country skiing in winter. As a big fan of languages and cultures, she is currently learning Spanish.