"[She had to learn] the everyday ability to pick up what a lecturer is saying. And then epidemiology has its own vocabulary," he said.
But he said she told him that the epidemiology degree, with courses ranging from industrial hygiene to bio-statistics, was a good fit with her interests.
"It's multidisciplinary--that's one of the things that excited her about the field," Christiani said. "You can have pretty broad interests that range from molecular biology to engineering."
After the Master's program, with its emphasis on math and lab technique, Wang shifted to environmental studies because she "wanted to move more and more to doing work with real people, with a human population," Christiani said.
Another memorial will be held Jan. 12 at 5:30 p.m. in the atrium of the SPH's Franois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights Building, located in Boston.