Yawei Zhang, MD, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Public Health

Mentors

Tongzhang Zheng, B.Med.,Sc.D.,Sc.M.; Herbert Yu, Md, PhD

Background

Dr. Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health.  She received her PhD and MPH in Epidemiology from Yale University School of Medicine and her Medical degree in Preventative Medicine from West China Medical University in China.  She completed fellowships at Yale and the National Cancer Institute.  Her goal is to establish a successful career at the forefront of breast cancer genetic epidemiology and to be a leader in the breast cancer research community.

Project Summary

Since the hypothesis that breast cancer may be originated in utero was proposed in 1990, numerous epidemiological studies have provided strong evidence linking breast cancer risk and various birth outcomes including birth weight, birth length, gestational age, etc.  Dr. Zhang’s project, In utero exposure to one carbon nutrients & DNA methylation patterns of IGF2, study’s the relationship between in utero exposure to one carbon nutrients and DNA methylation pattern of IGF2 in offspring which has been linked to Breast Cancer risk.