# @yalesph on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CsTj2hxrJ_m
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/12511019-yalesph-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/277149e8ab.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-05-16T13:25:40.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Yale School of Public Health (@yalesph) — https://gondola.cc/yalesph

## Caption

This week, we’re highlighting some of our outstanding graduating students who have made an impact on YSPH and beyond. First up is Yushi Zhang, MPH ’23 (Social & Behavioral Sciences), who is championing the Ivy League’s first disabilities studies program.

This past November, Zhang spearheaded the expansion of the Disability Studies Working Group, a student group within the Department of History of Science of Medicine, into the Yale Disabilities Studies Network (yaledisabilitystudies), a University-wide program bringing together students, alumni, and faculty who study and conduct research in disability-related fields.

The Yale Disability Studies Network is consolidating the efforts of disability studies scholars and students, establishing a critical anti-ableist lens on campus, and integrating disability into curriculum and research across multiple university departments. The goal is to create the Ivy League’s first dedicated multi-disciplinary Disability Studies Program. Moving forward, Zhang and her team at Yale Disability Studies Network are looking to gain the official recognition of disability studies at the institutional level.

Even before coming to Yale, Zhang has had experience organizing people for a cause.

In her native China, she led a successful national women’s movement that helped establish essential public health infrastructure across the country, build grassroots capacity for women to practice their reproductive and parenting decisions, and as a result, grew key health metrics tenfold. 

After Zhang graduates next week, her immediate plan is to travel around Asia this summer, as she hasn’t been home for years due to COVID. She is also establishing an organization called Institute for Human Diversity in China that provides training programs and hosts research conferences in collaboration with Chinese universities and institutions. “We will be looking for interns from YSPH next year,” she says. “Hopefully we'll be able to help my future MPH brothers and sisters to expand their global health experience options.”

Read more through our 🔗 in bio. 

#Yale2023 #YSPH2023 #myYSPH

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yale2023, myysph, ysph2023

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