Zhanghua Chen, PhD
Assistant Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Biography
Dr. Zhanghua Chen is an environmental epidemiologist and biostatistician with multidisciplinary expertise in environmental health, biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical medicine, obesity and diabetes pathophysiology, genomics, metabolomics, and data science. She has a strong track record in environmental health research with particular interests in the health effects of early-life environmental exposures in children and adults, the epidemiology of diabetes and obesity, and methods of multi-omics studies.
Dr. Chen aims to contribute her research to early prevention and treatment of complex diseases. She is creative, collaborative and highly productive. She is establishing a novel research area in environmental epidemiology by leveraging the advanced metabolomics and multi-omics approaches. Dr. Chen is the principal investigator on the NIEHS-supported K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award: ?Metabolomic Signatures Linking Air Pollution, Obesity and Diabetes?. She has also published many papers in well-received medical journals such as Diabetes Care and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Her accomplishments in environmental health research have received wide media attention from national and international news agencies, e.g., Reuters and Xinhua News Agency.
Publications
The Independent Effect of COVID-19 Vaccinations and Air Pollution Exposure on Risk of COVID-19 Hospitalizations in Southern California.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023 Jan 15;207(2):218-221. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202206-1123LE. PubMed PMID: 36125979; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9893324.
Transcriptomic and metabolomic associations with exposures to air pollutants among young adults with childhood asthma history.
Environ Pollut. 2022 Apr 15;299:118903. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.118903. Epub 2022 Jan 25. PubMed PMID: 35091019; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8925195.
Dysregulated lipid and fatty acid metabolism link perfluoroalkyl substances exposure and impaired glucose metabolism in young adults.
Environ Int. 2020 Dec;145:106091. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106091. Epub 2020 Sep 3. PubMed PMID: 32892005;
Near-roadway air pollution exposure and altered fatty acid oxidation among adolescents and young adults - The interplay with obesity.
Environ Int. 2019 Sep;130:104935. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.104935. Epub 2019 Jun 22. PubMed PMID: 31238265; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6679991.
Effects of Childhood Asthma on the Development of Obesity among School-aged Children.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017 May 1;195(9):1181-1188. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201608-1691OC. PubMed PMID: 28103443; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5439015.
Courses Taught
- Principles of Biostatistics