Dr Lin Yun joined the School of Public Health as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2025 after finishing her PhD study (2025) and training in Master of Public Health (2020) at the School. She completed her Bachelor of Medicine at the West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, where her research interest in infectious diseases began.

Leveraging large and comprehensive datasets, her PhD projects investigated viral kinetics in COVID-19 patients, assessed the feasibility to inform transmission dynamics using population-level viral load data, and explored virologic impact of two main COVID-19 antivirals. Dr Lin has published around 20 papers in high-impact journals, including two first-author papers receiving the HKU Foundation Publication Award for Research Postgraduate Students.

Dr Lin has broader research interests in characterising health impact associated with infectious diseases of great public health significance, particularly through data linkage. Her current work involves modeling burden of antimicrobial resistance, specifically from respiratory tract infections, aiming to improve control measures to mitigate the impact of antimicrobial resistance.

joint-first(†)

1. Lin Y, Wu P, Tsang TK, Wong JY, Lau EHY, Yang B, et al. Viral kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 following onset of COVID-19 in symptomatic patients infected with the ancestral strain and omicron BA.2 in Hong Kong: a retrospective observational study. Lancet Microbe. 2023 Sep;4(9):e722-e731. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(23)00146-5. [IF 20.9 (2023), rank 2/132 in Infectious Diseases and 3/161 in Microbiology]
2. Lin Y†, Yang B†, Cobey S, Lau EHY, Adam DC, Wong JY, et al. Incorporating temporal distribution of population-level viral load enables real-time estimation of COVID-19 transmission. Nat Commun. 2022;13(1):1155. [IF 14.7 (2023), rank 8/134 in Multidisciplinary Science]
3. Meng Y, Lin Y, Xiong W, Lau EHY, Ho F, Wong JY, et al. Effective real-time transmission estimations incorporating population viral load distributions amid SARS-CoV-2 variants and pre-existing immunity. J Infect Dis. 2024 Nov 27:jiae592. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae592. [IF 5.0 (2023), rank 15/132 in Infectious Diseases]
4. Yang B, Lin Y, Xiong W, Liu C, Gao H, Ho F, et al. Comparison of control and transmission of COVID-19 across epidemic waves in Hong Kong: an observational study. Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2023 Nov 22;43:100969. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2023.100969. [IF 7.6 (2023), rank 18/408 in Public, Environmental and Occupational Health]
5. Wong JY, Cheung JK, Lin Y, Bond HS, Lau EHY, Ip DKM, et al. Intrinsic and Effective Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Cases Infected With the Ancestral Strain and Omicron BA.2 Variant in Hong Kong. J Infect Dis. 2023 Nov 2;228(9):1231-1239. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiad236. [IF 5.0 (2023), rank 15/132 in Infectious Diseases]
6. McMenamin ME, Nealon J, Lin Y, Wong JY, Cheung JK, Lau EHY, et al. Vaccine effectiveness of one, two, and three doses of BNT162b2 and CoronaVac against COVID-19 in Hong Kong: a population-based observational study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Oct;22(10):1435-1443. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00345-0. [IF 36.4 (2023), rank 1/132 in Infectious Diseases]
7. Wu P†, Liu F†, Chang Z†, Lin Y, et al. Assessing Asymptomatic, Presymptomatic, and Symptomatic Transmission Risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Sep 15;73(6):e1314-e1320. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab271. [IF 8.2 (2023), rank 9/132 in Infectious Diseases and 18/181 in Immunology]
8. Tsang TK, Wu P, Lin Y, Lau EHY, Leung GM, Cowling BJ. Effect of changing case definitions for COVID-19 on the epidemic curve and transmission parameters in mainland China: a modelling study. Lancet Public Health. 2020 May;5(5):e289-e296. [IF 25.4 (2023), rank 3/408 in Public, Environmental & Occupational Health]