Laboratory members

Dr Yan Lin (Assistant Research Professor)

Yan Lin is a postdoctoral associate in Jim Zhang’s laboratory at Duke Global Health Institute. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA EHS department in 2019 under the supervision of Yifang Zhu. Yan’s research primarily aims to illustrate the impact of air pollution on population’s exposure to toxic chemicals (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and the subsequent health effects, which has resulted in more than 30 peer-reviewed publications in environmental and medical journals. His current research focused on (1). developing novel exposure biomarkers with increased specificity to pollution sources; and (2). examining biological mechanisms linking air pollution to cardiopulmonary diseases and adverse birth outcomes.

Dr Shiyu Zhang (Postdoc Researcher)Shiyu Zhang

Shiyu Zhang is a postdoctoral associate at DGHI, Duke University, working with Dr. Jim Zhang. She received her PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Sun Yat-sen University. Her work focuses on investigating the role of air pollution on the cardiovascular disease progression during her PhD study. Her postdoctoral research will further focus on identifying the biomarkers for the health effects of air pollution.

Dr Xiangtian (TIM) Wang (Postdoc Researcher)

Tim is a third-year Ph.D. student at Nicholas School of Environment. His research interest is developing novel biomarkers for air pollution on human health. Now, he focuses on using the metabolites of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon(PAH) as biomarkers to evaluate the exposure of air pollution and the effects on health outcomes.  Xiangtian.wang@duke.edu

 

Emily Craig (Ph.D. Student)

Emily is a first year Ph.D. Student at Nicholas School of the Environment. She did her undergraduate studies in marine science at the University of Maine, and after graduation was a Fulbright student research scholar in Sir Lanka. While she is just starting the program, she is interested in how early life exposure to air pollution leads to long-term health effects and epigenetic reprograming.

 

Ruoxue (Rory) Chen (Ph.D. Student)

Ruoxue is a first year Ph.D. student at Nicholas School of Environment. She gained her master’s degree (MEM) at Nicholas School of Environment in May 2022. Her master’s project focused on vegetative cover, urban heat, and heat-related illnesses among formerly redlined communities in Durham, North Carolina. She is currently interested in the interplay of indoor, outdoor air pollution and climate change, as well as using novel biomarkers to analyze how indoor air pollution affects human health.

 

Kelly E. Perry (Ph.D. Student)

Kelly E. Perry is a Thai-American PhD student at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, specializing in environmental epidemiology and investigating how environmental pollution—alongside built and natural environment factors—influence population health. Her work spans from wildfires to inflammatory biomarkers, centers environmental justice, and seeks to reduce population-wide environmental health disparities by generating evidence to inform equitable policy. She is a Research Fellow with the Governance Working Group within the International Nitrogen Network (iN-Net), a Planetary Health Campus Ambassador with the Planetary Health Alliance, and a Health Policy Research Scholar with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.