A companion between appointments: Hong Kong student’s AI tool for cancer patients
Spirit of Hong Kong Awards finalist Claudia Chan draws on cancer survivors’ experiences to build an AI tool designed to offer emotional support
For cancer patients in Hong Kong, emotional distress can persist beyond the clinic, with a large combined analysis of multiple studies linking depression and anxiety to lower chances of survival.
Claudia Chan Shu-ying, a medical student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), is developing CancerCompanion, a digital companion designed to offer emotional support between appointments, including late at night when professional help may not be immediately available.
The system uses AI-powered conversations to offer structured support while directing medical questions to healthcare teams and flagging potential cases of self-harm for human review.
Chan is a finalist in the youth category of this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards, co-organised by Sino Group and the South China Morning Post. She is taking a year out from her medical degree to complete a master’s degree in research medicine.
