Hanqing (Heidi) Wang is a Cookson PhD Scholar, undertaking the joint PhD program between the University of Melbourne and the University of Manchester, co-supervised by Professor Laura Downie and A/Prof Holly Chinnery (University of Melbourne) and Professor Stuart Allan and Professor Craig Smith (University of Manchester). Her research interests include ocular immunology, neuroinflammation, regional immune regulation, and drug development. Heidi's PhD research focuses on correlating brain and systemic inflammation with ocular immune activation in mice and humans following stroke. Her project aims to explore alterations in corneal and retinal immune cell profiles and other markers of ocular surface inflammation in stroke, through both preclinical and clinical studies. Understanding ocular immune changes could improve the prognostication and monitoring of post-stroke patients. 

Heidi completed her Bachelor’s degree in Bioscience in 2014, and Master’s degree in Regenerative Medicine in 2017 in China. During her Master’s studies, she investigated the effects of drug treatments and hyperoxia/hypoxia on corneal nerves and immune cells during wound healing. After graduation, Heidi gained three years of experience as a research assistant, focusing on immunology and the development of animal models for immunological diseases. From 2018 to 2019, she was a visiting scholar in the Department of Immunology, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, where she further developed her expertise in immunology, particularly in cytokine-driven dendritic cell and macrophage biology. She also has four years of industry experience, working as a Medical Science Liaison in the Ophthalmology department at AbbVie Inc. She was responsible for a therapeutic portfolio relating to intravitreal injections and eye drops, providing scientific support to enhance understanding of the medications.