October 11, 2022 | News | Welcome to the MPIDR

Anastasia Lam is a new PhD Student at the Laboratory of Population Health

© MPIDR

Anastasia Lam is part of the IMPRS-PHDS doctoral program and completed the first half of her doctoral research at the University of St. Andrews, UK. Over the next two years at our Instituteshe will focus her research on inequalities in multimorbidity in low- and middle-income countries.

What question drives you most in your research?

I have a background in public health, so I have always been interested in what makes some people more likely to have poor health than others. I’m also very interested in how people’s access to healthcare services and resources (or lack thereof) affects their health and mortality. My research tends to focus on low- and middle-income countries because that is where access to care is most limited and, in many countries, there is a double burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases, which I find interesting to study.  

What are you looking forward to as you start working at the MPIDR?

I am looking forward to meeting all the other PhD students and researchers and being able to chat about interests, research or otherwise! I’ve been part of the IMPRS-PHDS since 2020 and have met many people virtually, so it will be nice to finally meet in person.

What do you like most about Rostock?

I haven’t had time to go around the city yet, but my first impression is that it is so green. I’m also coming from St Andrews in the UK, which is a very small town of around 18,000 people, so Rostock feels like a proper large city to me!

What are you obsessed with at the moment besides demography?

I am obsessed with my dog, Nessie, an 18-month-old border collie and I am looking forward to exploring some of the nearby nature with her. I also love food, so I am excited to have a nice kitchen to do some more cooking and baking. 

The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.