SPH Student Killed in Car Accident Dec. 24

Yuan-Chun Wang, a first-year doctoral student at the Harvard School of Public Health (SPH), died in a car accident near Mobile, Ala., on Christmas Eve. She was 25.

A native of Taiwan, Wang had gone to Atlanta to meet a friend--Wen Ling Hsiu, 25, of Athens, Ga.--before driving to New Orleans for the New Year.

According to Alabama state troopers, Wang was driving her friend's car along Interstate 10, four miles east of the Mississippi state line at 6:20 p.m. Dec. 24, when she ran off the road and struck a tree.

Wang died at the scene of the accident. Her friend was hospitalized for minor injuries.

Police said both were wearing seatbelts.

Last June, Wang received a masters of science degree in epidemiology from the School of Public Health. This fall, she began studying for her Ph.D. in environmental health.

Wang was active in the local Taiwanese community and was close to Taiwanese students and faculty at MIT and Harvard's other graduate schools.

She was vice president of the Harvard Republic of China Student Club, which holds cultural events and other social gatherings for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members.

June Hao Hou, the club's other vice president, said Wang often helped students who were new to Cambridge find housing and get settled into life on campus. He said she also helped the club improve attendance at its events.

"She never was the star person, but she was always the best support," he said.

Hou said the club conducted a fundraiser to help pay for several of Wang's close friends to go to Alabama in the days just after her death to attend the funeral.

Hou said the group also raised the necessary funds to pay for the costs of holding a memorial service in Cambridge the week of the accident, which more than 200 people attended.

About 50 people have contributed more than $4,000 to the fund.

Wang's parents, who traveled to Alabama from Taiwan for the Dec. 28 funeral in Mobile, held a Buddhist service, and then came to Cambridge for the memorial.

Another memorial service 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.