Biography

As a postdoctoral fellow at the Duke University Global Health Institute (DGHI), Zhenchun Yang’s current research focus is air pollution monitoring and modelling. Dr Yang’s research has been instrumental in advancing the knowledge and practical applications of land-use regression models to measure the presence of ultrafine particles in urban residential areas. His Doctoral thesis, completed at Imperial College London, involved the development of a model to improve the accuracy and efficiency of collection of air pollution data in the large urban megacity environment of London. Dr Yang’s postdoctoral research with DGHI centers around the development of similar land use regression models for Shanghai, China. He is also involved in several other research projects, investigating potential links between exposure to air pollution, night light, and greenness, with adverse health outcomes, such as autism, reduced birth weight, and cardio-metabolic disease.

Due to the intersection between climate change and environmental exposure research, Dr Yang recently joined a landmark project investigating the Role of Climate Change in Radon Exposure, Awareness and Lung Cancer Risk among Diverse Populations in North Carolina. This groundbreaking study aims to investigate associations between climate change, radon exposure levels, and social determinants of health, with a view to offering new insights into practical ways to minimize environmental (non-smoking related) risks of lung cancer, which is the current leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

Dr Yang earned his Master’s in Environmental Science and PhD in Environmental Health from Imperial College London. His passion for understanding the intricacies of measuring environmental exposure, is borne out of a desire to positively influence the global effort to mitigate the increasing toll of climate change and pollution on human health. Dr Yang’s hope is that by understanding the associations between real-world exposure indicators, climate change, and health outcomes, innovative new solutions can be found to challenges in urban environments like air pollution, rising temperatures, loss of greenness, and excessive night light exposure. To enhance his ability to contribute to this important cause, Dr Yang continues to actively advance his knowledge of machine learning, satellite data, climate science, and environmental epidemiological statistics and study design.