Current Fellows in Education, Health, and Arts

Yale-China Fellow at Yali High School

Born and raised in New York City, Julia Arancio (she/her) graduated in May 2023 from Yale University with a degree in Film & Media Studies. She has been studying Chinese for eight years and she is thrilled at the opportunity to finally live and work in China. During her time at Yale, Julia was very involved with the student film community on campus. She was the President of the Yale Film Alliance and she produced many short films. She also worked in the Yale Film Archive. In China, she is looking forward to meeting her students, traveling the country, and improving her Chinese skills. She is immensely grateful for the opportunity and she can’t wait to speak, learn, listen, eat, and explore as much as she possibly can.

Yale-China Fellow at Xiuning Middle School

From a town of less than 2,000 people in rural Tennessee, Elijah graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Philosophy. At Yale, he debated as a member of the Conservative Party of the Yale Political Union and conducted research on South Asian telecommunications infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. While in Xiuning, Elijah is excited to hike Huangshan and try the region’s famous white tea. After the fellowship, Elijah will conduct financial research for an international law firm, hoping to specialize in sovereign power creditor-debtor disputes.

Yale-China Fellow at Chinese University of Hong Kong

Alison is from Los Angeles, California and graduated from Yale University in 2023 with a B.A. in English. Her academic work focused on English poetry, and she wrote her thesis on the influence of Shakespearean tragedy on William Wordsworth. In the summer of 2022, she lived and worked in Wordsworth’s house, Rydal Mount, where the poet lived from 1813-1850. She has previously spent summers interning at the ACLU’s Prison Project and at the US Embassy in London. At Yale, Alison served as President of the Yale Political Union — the nation’s oldest and largest student debate organization — and she has also been involved with local Connecticut politics and advocacy. Outside the classroom, Alison enjoys writing poetry, hiking, and reading lots of fiction. In 2025, she will be matriculating at Harvard Law School via the Junior Deferral Program, and she can’t wait to spend her two-year deferral period exploring Hong Kong!

Yale-China Fellow at Chinese University of Hong Kong

Cheryl graduated from Yale University in 2024 with a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. She studies biology because it’s a steadfast reminder of the things that make us similar and human. At Yale, Cheryl carried this belief in human dignity through all of her pursuits, including her service as a First-Year Counselor, leadership of the Yale Community Kitchen for the local food-insecure population, and engagement with climate change research and policy. As the daughter of first-generation immigrants, Cheryl cannot wait to embrace the CUHK community and work in education: engaging with the very systems that gave her parents the opportunity for a better life. She's also particularly excited for the hiking scene in Hong Kong!

Yale-China Fellow at Xiuning MiddleSchool

Angelreana is from Springfield, Missouri and graduated from Yale in 2023 with a B.A. in Economics and an Education Studies certificate. At Yale, Angelreana worked at the Asian American Cultural Center for four years and was Co-Head Peer Liaison her senior year, was Head of the Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund's Community Investment team, interned at the Connecticut Children's Museum as a Dwight Hall Urban Fellow, and ran her own Asian storytelling podcast. Angelreana is looking forward to planning creative and interactive lessons for and academically and emotionally supporting her students. She is also excited to engage in deep reflection, grow her language skills, and push her understanding of open-mindedness and appreciation for different cultures while in China.

Yale-China Fellow at Yali High School

Annette is from northern New Jersey and graduated from Yale in 2024 with a B.A. in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. Her academic work focused on the intersection between immigration, race, and gender, with particular focus around Asian American communities. She has previously worked at the Federal Public Defender’s Office of Connecticut and on Capitol Hill. At Yale, Annette served as the Co-President of the Yale Women’s Leadership Initiative and the Co-Secretary-General of Yale Model United Nations Korea, where she led a high school international Model U.N. conference in Seoul. She has also volunteered for Bridges ESL, providing small-group English tutoring to immigrants and refugees in the New Haven community. Outside the classroom, Annette enjoys playing golf, listening to music, and exploring new restaurants and cafes with friends. Annette is excited to join the Yale-China community and build strong relationships with students and teachers, all while immersing herself in the language and culture for the next two years. 

Yale-China Fellow at Chinese University of Hong Kong

Born and raised in China, Kevin moved to Vancouver at age 14 and graduated from Yale in 2023 with a B.A. in History concentrating on Politics, Law, and Government. His thesis examined Yale’s involvement in brokering diplomatic relations between the American and Japanese Empires during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. Outside of academia, Kevin was heavily involved in music and community service at Yale. This past year, he served as the president of Yale Rotaract and as an officer in the Yale Glee Club. He also performed as a lead in the 17th century Venetian opera “La Doriclea” produced by the Yale Baroque Opera Project. Kevin hopes to continue singing at CUHK and to connect Yale Rotaract with Rotary clubs in Hong Kong to propose new international projects.

Kevin is eager to embrace life in Asia after a longue-durée. He aims to experience Hong Kong through the eyes of Hongkongers, especially in this moment of political turbulence and anxiety. He is grateful for the opportunity to be immersed in a place that is both strange and familiar, and to plunge headlong into teaching the subjects that he loves.

Yale-China Fellow at Xiuning Middle School

Born in Wyoming and raised between Maryland and Pennsylvania, Harrison graduated from Yale in May 2024 with a B.A. in Humanities and Economics. His academic work focussed on political theory. On campus, he debated in Yale’s Political Union and hosted dinner conversations with the Shabtai society. Off campus, he researched and worked in politics, law, and education. He interned for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was a Political Studies Fellow at the Hudson Institute. In 2022, he and his best friend at Yale co-founded a liberal arts summer academy in Jeju, South Korea. In the summer of 2024, they operated the academy in New Haven, hosting 25 international students. Harrison loves mountaineering, landscape drawing, architecture, and film. In Xiuning, Harrison looks forward to crafting formative relationships with his students, hiking Huangshan, and learning the life of southern Anhui.

Yale-China Fellow at Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hailing from New Rochelle, New York, Sam graduated from Yale University in 2023 with a combined B.A./M.A. in East Asian Studies and a proficiency certification in Modern Hebrew. Sam’s studies focused on Chinese anthropology and the interaction between law and family structures, culminating in a thesis on educational rights and obstacles for migrant youth in Shanghai. Sam has a long-term interest in China-studies and Chinese language(s): inside and outside Yale, he has studied Mandarin for 12 years and Cantonese for 2 years, in addition to Classical Chinese. While at Yale, Sam gained deeply from leadership in Community Health Educators, Accent Multilingual Magazine, Yale Interpretation Network, as well as the Slifka Center for Jewish Life, where he served as Hillel co-president; additionally, he exercised his love for singing as a baritone in the Yale Russian Chorus and the vocalist for the Yale Klezmer Band. After graduation, Sam pursued an LLM degree in China Studies, Law and Society track, at Peking University’s Yenching Academy, where he undertook an ongoing research focus on the interaction between Common Law and Civil/Continental Law in the Hong Kong legal system.

Sam is looking forward to integrating himself with the CUHK community, playing lots of mahjong, and taking in all that Hong Kong society has to offer. He is ecstatic to continue his studies of Cantonese (especially through song!), and cannot wait to cultivate an inviting classroom atmosphere for growth. Fluent in two of the three spoken languages of the S.A.R. and currently working to learn the third, Sam is excited to employ and broaden his cross-cultural knowledge while working to help his students succeed inside and outside of the classroom.

Yale-China Fellow at Xiuning Middle School

Taylor is from Dalton, Georgia, and graduated from Yale University in 2023 with a B.A. in Linguistics and an Advanced Language Certificate in Korean. She is passionate about grammatical diversity and is excited to explore regional linguistic dialects within China.

At Yale, Taylor worked in the Office of Student Affairs at Yale Law School, where she helped organize student wellness events like the weekly “Tuesday Tea Time.” She hopes to continue to prioritize student wellness and language proficiency during her tenure as a Yale-China Fellow.

Taylor is an avid fan of Taylor Swift, Stardew Valley, and Studio Ghibli, which is to say she loves anything that fits into the “cottagecore” aesthetic. She is thrilled to join the Yale-China family and looks forward to meeting and working with the Xiuning students, faculty, and staff.

Yale-China Fellow at Yali High School

Adam grew up in Avon, Connecticut and graduated from Yale in 2024 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He spent his summers at Yale doing computer science systems research and software engineering internships. Adam's decision to join Yale-China represents a pivot from a path towards software engineering in order to lean into his passion for teaching. Adam is eager to translate his time teaching computer science classes and swim lessons into an enthusiastic and engaging classroom at Yali.

At Yale, Adam swam on the varsity swim team, sang in the Unorthojocks a capella group, broadcasted for Yale radio, and found a love for cooking. He is excited to nurture his cooking skills in Changsha and is hoping that cooking can be a vessel for cultural engagement and language learning upon joining the Yale-China community. He is excited for the vibrant culture of Changsha and is hoping to continue to engage with making and consuming music as he learns more about Chinese culture. If he's lucky, he might even find a pool to spend some time in during his stint in China.

Yale-China Fellow at Yali High School

Isa Zou (she/her) graduated from Yale in 2023 with a B.A. in Ethnicity, Race and Migration and designation as a Yale Journalism Scholar. She’s a writer focusing on race, religion, and justice, and her work is based in structural analyses and explores difference and power across axes of race, class, gender, and sexuality. She’s worked at the Texas Tribune and the Connecticut Mirror. At Yale, she served as editor in chief of the Yale Daily News Magazine, a monthly publication for narrative journalism, fiction, poetry, and the arts. She’s worked for the Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning Collective since 2020 and is passionate about curricular and pedagogical approaches that support students’ beings and critical consciousnesses. She’s also a singer and dancer, singing with the Yale Glee Club and Whim ‘n Rhythm and dancing with the Yale Modern Dance Collective. She’s excited to bring her artistic interests and passion for education to China as she builds relationships with students and teachers, grows as an educator, and connects with her roots. She loves cooking, talking about Texas, and dancing in heels.

K.C. Li Chinese Teaching Fellow at Clinton Avenue School and Fair Haven School

Jade Fan was born and raised in Hunan Province, China. She graduated from Beijing Normal University with a B.A. in English Language and Literature in 2020. She has been an English teacher in Yali High School for 4 years. She has a wide range of hobbies and enjoys music and sports. She loves traditional Chinese culture. She is good at calligraphy and Chinese painting. She loves meeting new people and trying new things. She’s excited about teaching and life in New Haven!

Chinese Teaching Fellow at John C. Daniels

Li

Xiaohong, who got a master's degree of English translation from Nanjing Normal University, has been teaching English in China for more than 10 years, 6 years in New Oriental School (Changsha) and 4 years in local junior high schools. She enjoys interacting with students and is always ready to help with language learning process, as well as their daily life. She believes that teaching makes a difference not only to individuals, but also the world as a whole.

Chinese Teaching Fellow at Edgewood School

Lidan Hou serves as a Mandarin Chinese teacher for Edgewood Creative Thinking Through STEAM Magnet School, a NHPS. She works as a homeroom teacher in Yali Yanghu Middle School and has been teaching English for about 12 years. She once volunteered to teach in Ruchen, a small village in Hunan Province and has been working there for a year. She holds an MA in English Teaching from Hunan Normal University.

NHPS Language Fellow at Metropolitan Business Academy

Anna Lehman is a sophomore in Yale College hailing from Charleston, South Carolina, and majoring in Global Affairs and East Asian Studies. She joined Yale-China in 2024 as a New Haven Public School Fellow, teaching Mandarin at the Metropolitan Business Academy for the 2024-2025 school year. At Yale, Anna also participates in a cappella as a singer in the New Blue, Yale’s oldest female undergraduate organization, as Staff Director for the Yale Record, the nation’s oldest humor magazine, and as a tour guide at the Yale University Art Gallery. Her interest in the Chinese language stems from her early childhood, and she has been lucky enough to have studied abroad in Hsinchu, Taiwan through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) in 2022, and as a Light Fellow in Beijing, China in 2024. 

NHPS Language Fellow at Co-op High School

Devin is a first-year student at Yale College. Although currently undecided, he has interests in Economics and Political Science. Originally hailing from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, Devin now calls the neighborhood of Flushing, Queens his home. He is passionate about making a difference in his community, and is interested in a career in education. In his free time, Devin enjoys playing soccer with his suitemates, and listening to podcasts.

Devin is excited to be a NHPS Language Fellow, and help students discover and explore the nuances of Chinese language and culture.

NHPS Language Fellow at Metropolitan Business Academy

Anna is a senior in Timothy Dwight College majoring in Political Science with a certificate in Chinese. Growing up in a Cantonese household in Boston, Anna is passionate about building awareness through intercultural exchange and dialogues. On campus, she is heavily involved with the Yale Chinese Language program, serving as a research assistant on a new L5 Chinese course taught in Spring 2025. She spends her time coordinating events for the Ancient Chinese Traditions Club and working on bilingual Theater Productions with Yale Vermillion Theater. Anna enjoys exploring botanical gardens, performing tea ceremonies, and cooking with her friends.

New Haven Free Public Library Senior Fellow

Arantxa is a senior in Yale College studying English and East Asian Studies with a concentration on China. Outside of serving as a NHFPL Fellow, she works as a residential college aide, facilitates English conversation groups at the Office of International Students & Scholars, and translates for the Law School. As a past English learner, Arantxa's love of the library began in childhood, when she spent hours devouring library books and immersing herself in American culture at her local library. She is a non-native Mandarin speaker but enjoys learning languages alongside her English and East Asian Studies classes at Yale. When she has free time, Arantxa enjoys going on long walks, cooking Peruvian food, or discovering her next favorite book.

New Haven Free Public Library Senior Fellow

Lynn Lee (she/her) is a senior from Hong Kong and Seoul, South Korea majoring in History with certificates in Chinese and Education Studies. At Yale, Lynn is heavily involved with Yale Model United Nations Taiwan and the Communication and Consent Educators program. She also serves as a Chinese Language Representative for the Richard U. Light Fellowship. In her free time, Lynn enjoys exploring new running trails and catching up with old friends over coffee.

New Haven Free Public Library Fellow

Jessica is a sophomore from Chicago, Illinois studying Statistics and Data Science at Yale College. Outside of classes, Jessica is the Director General of Committees for Yale Model United Nations Europe, Under-Secretary-General of General Assemblies for Yale Model United Nations held on campus, and President of the Yale Sustainable Consulting Collective. In her free time, she works at Yale’s social science library, enjoys rhythmic gymnastics, plays the piano, and watches Chinese TV shows and movies.

New Haven Free Public Library Fellow

Ivana is a senior in Yale College majoring in Global Affairs with certificates in Advanced Mandarin Chinese and Education Studies. She is from the Dominican Republic, and started studying Mandarin when she arrived at Yale to explore her Chinese heritage. Ivana is involved at Yale as the Head Mentorship and Training Guide for the Yale Tour Guide Program, Director-General of Operations for Yale Model UN Europe, Publicity Director for Yale Danceworks, and Co-Chair of the Senior Class Council Planning Committee. Ivana loves singing with her two acapella groups, Mixed Company and Whim n Rhythm, film photography, and fashion.

2024 Yale-China Resident Artist

Jennifer Yuqing Cao (曹语晴) is a first-year MFA scenic design candidate at Yale David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Based in NYC and China, her work in theater and dance as an international artist focuses on the possibilities of space and storytelling. She believes that her design on stage does not act as a still supplementary but as a crucial and active participant in the narration. Selected works including Once 一场 (China National Tour) as the set designer, costume designer, and production stage manager; Set Design for Here’s a Blue Morpho For You (NYU CSSA GALA), The Comedy of Errors (NYU Tisch NSB), My Heavenly Favorite (assistant scenographer, International Theater Amsterdam).

More about the designer: https://jenniferyuqingcao.com/

2024 Chia Health Fellow

Jing Li is a dedicated healthcare professional with an extensive educational background and a wealth of career experience. Since 2016, she has gained substantial clinical experience at Xiangya Hospital Central South University. Additionally, she serves as a Research Assistant at the "Mobile Health" Ministry of Education-China Mobile Joint Laboratory. Jing Li's career has consistently focused on nursing informatics research, demonstrating outstanding professional skills and dedication. She has published 12 professional papers in academic journals, obtained 3 national invention patents, and secured 1 provincial-level research project.

• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Zhao Ni, Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Nursing; a faculty lead of the Yale Office of Global Affairs & Planetary Health and serves as the Director of International Academic Partnerships and Programs.

• Fellowship Project: “Development and Application of a Visualization Tool for Capability Assessment of Community-dwelling Elderly.”

2024 Chia Health Fellow

Tieying Qiu was born in Yunnan and graduated from Sichuan University and Central South University. She is an Associate Professor of Nursing in the spinal ward at the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. She has worked for ten years as a clinical nurse. Her research interest is diabetes, metabolism disease and spinal diseases in elderly patients. She published several academic articles with diabetes and spinal disease. In spare time, she is into doing some adventure exercises, such as hiking, bike riding, and mountain climbing.

• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Soohyun Nam, Associate professor in Yale School of Nursing, is focused on the Adult-Gerontological, Family Nurse Practitioner specialty and PhD program.

• Fellowship Topic: “Application Evaluation of Resistance Baduanjin Exercise Program for Elderly Patients with Osteoporosis and Lumbar Disc Herniation.”

2023 Chia Health Fellow

A PhD student at Central South University, Xiuwen Chen is a charge nurse in the Teaching and Research Section of Clinical Nursing at Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. With eight years of experience in child health research, she has published more than 20 professional papers in academic journals.

• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Zhao Ni, Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Nursing, a faculty lead of the Yale Office of Global Affairs & Planetary Health, and the Director of International Academic Partnerships

• Fellowship Project: “Investigation and Intervention Study on Self-Medication in Children by Parents in Western Hunan of China”

2023 Chia Health Fellow

Sha Wang is a charge nurse in the Emergency Intensive Care Unit at the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. With seven years of nursing experience, she has published several academic articles with a particular focus on geriatric nursing and nursing safety management.

• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joanne Iennaco, Professor of Nursing co-appointed in Psychiatry at Yale University and Director of the Clinical Doctor of Nursing Practice Program at the Yale School of Nursing

• Fellowship Topic: “Application of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy on Rural Left-Behind Elderly with Subthreshold Depression in Western Hunan

2023 Yale-China Health Fellow

A faculty member in the School of Nursing at Kunming Medical University, Xin Wen got her master's degree in nursing from the West China School of Medicine in 2018. Her research interests are in nursing education and geriatric care with a focus on chronic disease management of the elderly.

• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Xiaomei Cong, Professor of Nursing at the Yale School of Nursing

• Fellowship Project: The Influence of Individual and Family Self-Management on Quality of Life, Mental Health, Social Relationships in the Elderly with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

2023 Yale-China Health Fellow

With Ph.D. from the Peking University Health Science Center, Lihua Zhang has been an endocrinologist for more than twenty years and works as Deputy Chief Physician at the Department of General Medicine of the First Hospital Affiliated to Kunming Medical University. Lihua’s research focuses on diabetic kidney and endocrine hypertension.

• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Lei Chen, Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine) and of Emergency Medicine, and affiliated faculty at the Yale Institute for Global Health

• Fellowship Project: Structured Treatment & Education Program (STEP) in Improving Metabolic Control and Psychological Outcomes of Female Type 2 Diabetes Patients in Yunnan Rural Community.