{
  "id": 15100635,
  "title": "A companion between appointments: Hong Kong student’s AI tool for cancer patients",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/17/a-companion-between-appointments-hong-kong-students-ai-tool-for",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-17T02:15:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post - Hong Kong",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post-hong-kong",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3371128/companion-between-appointments-hong-kong-students-ai-tool-cancer-patients"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "For Hong Kong's cancer patients, emotional distress can linger even after leaving the hospital, with research indicating depression and anxiety lower survival rates. Claudia Chan Shu-ying, a medical student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is creating CancerCompanion – an AI-powered digital companion to provide emotional support between medical appointments, including late at night when professional help may not be readily available. The system employs AI conversations to offer structured support while directing medical inquiries to healthcare professionals and flagging potential cases of self-harm for human review. Chan, a finalist in this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards, has taken a year off her medical degree to pursue a master’s in research medicine. The CancerCompanion project originated from Chan's observations during community health screening programs during her first two years of medical school, where cancer patients and survivors described feeling overwhelmed emotionally, particularly during times without professional support. The AI is designed with safeguards to avoid providing medical advice, instead directing users to healthcare teams for clinical questions. The team is cautious about potential overreliance on the AI, emphasizing that it is intended to supplement, not replace, human connections. The system targets individuals with relatively mild emotional difficulties, with those needing more intensive mental health care still encouraged to seek professional help. A clinical study to evaluate CancerCompanion's impact on mental health and quality of life has received ethical approval. The project employs principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and has been granted a US provisional patent for the AI-powered conversational system. Chan's work is guided by patient input, with survivors, NGO staff, and professors from psychiatry and oncology reviewing different versions of the system. CancerCompanion has won awards for Chan, including first runner-up in CUHK’s Vice-Chancellor’s Cup of Student Entrepreneurship in 2025. Despite focusing on relatively mild emotional challenges, Chan aspires to integrate her research with clinical work and pursue academic medicine in the future.",
  "summary": "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,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "South China Morning Post",
        "title": "A companion between appointments: Hong Kong student’s AI tool for cancer patients",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/17/a-companion-between-appointments-hong-kong-students-ai-tool-for-15100656",
        "published": "2026-10-17T02:15:05.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}