RUNC: Elizabeth Kwong
Elizabeth Kwong studies physician burnout and how to improve their well-being.
By UNC Research
May 14, 2025
Health · Research Uncovered · Society
Elizabeth Kwong is a recently graduated PhD student of the Carolina Health Informatics Program, which is supported by nine academic units across the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. She researches and identifies factors contributing to clinician burnout and looks for areas of improvement to improve well-being.
Q: How did you discover your specific field of study?
A: In 2021, I started my PhD in the UNC Healthcare Engineering Division because I was interested in improving care and safety for patients. Led by Dr. Lukasz Mazur, the division and team members have had a huge impact on my research. More recently, I have been studying clinician burnout and well-being, especially after the pandemic, when health care professionals were inundated in the clinic. We need to take care of the clinicians that take care of others, first and foremost.
Q: Academics are problem-solvers. Describe a research challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it.
A: Assessing clinician well-being is not new. Most health care professionals complete yearly surveys that ask them what can be done to improve their welfare. The problem is clinicians often don’t see any substantial change. The data gets collected and ends up as a metric somewhere.
That’s why I wanted to be comprehensive and holistic with my data collection methods. I too started with a survey, but also conducted focus groups so participants could provide contextual information for their top-rated stressors. Then, we followed up with them individually to shadow them, see issues in real life, and conduct interviews. We used this information to identify key problem areas, which participants rated from the least to most impactful. This was used to create a visual report that was presented back to their departments and hospital leadership.
Impact Report
Burnout directly impacts physicians’ well-being, patient safety, and the overall quality of health care delivery. More than 45% of U.S. physicians reported at least one symptom of burnout in 2023, according to the American Medical Association.
Elizabeth is one of more than 9,000 graduate students at Carolina. Some will become the next generation of professors and researchers. Others will pursue private sector jobs, fueling fields like technology, science, health care, art, and music.
During my project, multiple clinicians told me that not only did they feel like they were being heard, but that they hoped this would bring about some of the changes they have been wanting to see. Our next challenge is living up to that promise and ensuring those improvements are implemented.
Q: Describe your research in five words.
A: Contextual clues uncover burnout blues.
Q: Who or what inspires you? Why?
A: Women scientists and leaders. My mentors. My family. My partner. They have all impacted and inspired me in different ways at different time periods of my life and motivated me to get to where I am today. They also give me inspiration when things in the world don’t seem great.
I also can’t forget my cat Billie Jean and dog Eleanor Rigby, who inspire me to keep working hard so I can continue feeding them fancy food.
Q: If you could pursue any other career, what would it be and why?
A: I think it would be cool to be a food and travel journalist. I love to eat, travel, and eat while I travel, so to be paid to do that would be amazing.
Research UNCovered delves into the lives of Carolina researchers from all disciplines and career levels, showcasing not only their research prowess but personal experiences in academia and beyond. Read more RUNC features here.