RISA People

Prof. Ivy ZHAO is the Deputy Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) for Community Health Services and an Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Prior to joining PolyU, she worked in Age Concern Auckland, a nationwide NGO providing specialized services and support for older adults in New Zealand.

Prof. Zhao is a dedicated researcher with a focus on fostering cognitive health, addressing loneliness and promoting healthy aging for senior citizens. She has developed expertise in auditory rehabilitation for age-related hearing loss, auditory-cognitive training, the clinical and cognitive assessment for older adults with hearing loss. One of her notable innovations is 聽聰智明 (Patent: HK30110757)- an online gamified auditory-cognitive dual task training system for senior citizens with hearing loss. The novel earned her the First Runner-Up position in the Health Future Challenge 2023, organized by the Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship Office, PolyU. Additionally, she has conducted research on interventions that facilitate well-being of senior citizens and their caregivers, her works have been published in international journals such as Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and Australasian Journal on Ageing. Prof. Zhao also actively promote health ageing through organizing Healthy Ageing Conference, which aspires to build an action-oriented network advocating for healthy aging at both the local and global levels.

By joining RISA, Prof. Zhao strives to further develop and advance knowledge transfer on the field of smart ageing through working with stakeholders, ultimately fostering the well-being of senior citizens and their caregivers. 

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Wuhan University, China
• Master of Science in Health Promotion, The University of Mississippi, United States
• Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

• Registered Nurse in China
• Public Dietician in Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China 
• Certified Health Education Specialist in National Commission for Health Education Credentialing in the United States 
• Member, Auckland University of Technology Centre for Active Ageing
• Member, Auckland University of Technology Centre for Migrant and Refugee Research

• Research Assistant, School of Clinical Science, Auckland University of Technology
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, WHO Collaborating Centre for Community Health Services, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Research Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University