Zhanghua Chen, PhD

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.

• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, US — PhD — Biostatistics
• Fudan University, Shanghai, China — B.S. — Clinical Medicine

• Circulating levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Subclinical Atherosclerosis progression in Postmenopausal women
  NIH · R01ES033705 · Sep 20, 2022 – Jul 31, 2027 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Slowing Atherothrombosis Progression through Indoor Air Filtration: A Crossover Trial in Hispanic and non-Hispanic Adults with Ischemic Heart Disease History
  NIH · R01ES033707 · Sep 1, 2022 – Jun 30, 2028 · Role: Principal Investigator
• The Long-term Influence of Persistent Organic Pollutants Exposure During and After Pregnancy on Metabolic Decline in Women After Pregnancies Complicated by Gestational Diabetes
  NIH · R01ES032247 · Sep 8, 2020 – Jun 30, 2025 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Particulate Air Pollutants and Autism Risk: Exposure Characteristics, Indicators of Susceptibility, and Mechanistic Pathways
  NIH · R01ES029963 · Aug 1, 2019 – May 31, 2024 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Metabolomic Signatures Linking Air Pollution, Obesity and Diabetes
  NIH · R00ES027870 · Dec 1, 2017 – Apr 30, 2022 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Metabolomic Signatures Linking Air Pollution, Obesity and Diabetes
  NIH · K99ES027870 · Dec 1, 2017 – Nov 30, 2019 · Role: Principal Investigator

• Peters, Anne
• Chatzi, Vaia
• McConnell, Rob
• Habre, Rima
• Chen, Jiu-Chiuan
• Eckel, Sandrah