Meet Dr Hui Emma Zhang

For me, life is all about learning and experimentation, the love for my family and of course cooking!

Research and cooking actually share some very similar characteristics, including the need for creativity, the right tools and techniques, and of course the use of specific measurements.

One of my favourite things is to make dumplings together with my daughter. We cook together as much as we can. I hope to give her an understanding and appreciation of her Chinese heritage through our cooking of traditional foods. She’s only three but she already knows how to make the dumpling skin. Cooking not only builds up her skills, but we bond together and everyone in the family gets involved which is just great.

In the workplace, my experimentation is focused on chronic liver disease, and more specifically on the attempt to find potential treatments for liver cancer. Liver cancer is fairly common in Australia and is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Sadly, though, there are only two medications currently available for liver cancer and they’re fairly limited in terms of improving survival rates.

I always tell my friends to limit their alcohol intake, to watch their diet, to undertake regular exercise and to have regular check-ups!