PI

Zhi Yu, MB, PhD

Investigator, Asst Prof

Bio

I am an Investigator, Asst Prof (started Sep 2024; faculty page) at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Member of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and an Affiliate Faculty member at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

I was a K99 postdoc at the Broad Institute (mentors: Drs. Pradeep Natarajan and Anthony Philippakis). I completed my PhD in Epidemiology and a concurrent Master’s in Biostatistics from 2017 to 2020 at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (mentors: Drs. Josef Coresh and Nilanjan Chatterjee). Before these, I received my Master’s from Harvard (mentor: Dr. Edward Giovannucci) and a Bachelor of Medicine from Hong Kong Baptist University.

My research focuses on computational modeling of human multi-omics data to study the mechanisms of cardiovascular and other age-related diseases. I developed strong expertise in (1) clonal hematopoiesis and (2) large-scale proteomics.

Outside research, things I’m proud of as a medical researcher are: I haven’t caught COVID, I still have natural 20/15 vision, and 50 something LDL-C. Let’s see which one I’ll quietly remove first 😎

Grants

  • Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), National Human Genome Research Institute (Sep 2023-Sep 2027)
  • Early Career Investigator Award, Fondation Leducq Clonal Hematopoiesis and Atherosclerosis Network (Jan 2022-Dec 2024)
  • Training grant (T32), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Previously)

Teaching

Guest Lecture:

- Harvard Medical School (2024)

  • CI 764B - Systems Biology and Omics Analysis II

Teaching Assistant:

- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2018-2020)

  • Biostatistics 140.623 - Statistical Methods in Public Health III
  • Epidemiology 340.752 - Epidemiologic Methods II
  • Epidemiology 340.644 - Epidemiology of Diabetes and Obesity
  • Epidemiology 340.601 - Principles of Epidemiology
  • Epidemiology 340.636 - Epidemiology in Evidence-Based Policy
  • Biostatistics 140.608 - Analysis of Longitudinal Data
  • Biostatistics 140.613 - Data Analysis Workshop I
  • Biostatistics 140.614 - Data Analysis Workshop II

Awards

  • Postdoc: 2023 STAT Wunderkind, STAT; Three travel, abstract, or poster awards (five times) from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium and American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
  • Graduate: Best of ASN Journals 2021 (two papers selected by the Journal of American Society of Nephorology [ASN] among all its publications each year), ASN; Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self–financed Students Abroad, China Scholarship Council; Delta Omega Alpha, Delta Omega Honorary Society; Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Beta Kappa Society; Delta Omega Scholarship, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH); Comstock Training Fund, JHSPH; Ellen B. Gold Fund for Epidemiology, JHSPH
  • Undergrad: Scholastic Award (awarded to student with the highest cumulative GPA in the graduating class), Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU); First Class Honors, HKBU; President Honor Roll (every year), HKBU; Scholarship for Excellent Mainland Student (merit–based full ride scholarship), HKBU; School of Chinese Medicine Scholarship (highest school–level scholarship), HKBU; Hong Kong Association of University Women (HKAUM) Scholarship, HKAUM; C.V. Starr Scholarship Fund, Starr Foundation; Lee Koon Shin Scholarship (twice), HKBU; MI Asia Award, HKBU; Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce Limited Scholarship, HKBU

Thanks