Tongzhang Zheng DSc

Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health); Department Chair, Environmental Health Sciences

Biographical Info

Tongzhang Zheng is the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology and Chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. He also holds Adjunct Professor positions at Lanzhou University in China, Dundee University in Great Britain and the Huazhong Science and Technology University in China. He is a Senior Research Scientist with the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France and was a Senior Advisor to the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. Dr. Zheng also directs two NIH Fogarty training programs at Yale in partnership with the Chinese National Environmental Health Sciences and China’s National Cancer Center to train Chinese scientists in environmental health, environmental epidemiology, biostatistics, cancer epidemiology and genetics.

Dr. Zheng earned a Sc.D. in epidemiology from Harvard University, with minors in environmental health sciences and biostatistics, and a medical degree from the Tongji Medical School, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Dr. Zheng has authored or co-authored over 280 articles/book chapters and co-edited the textbook, Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He has served on several committees for the National Academy of Sciences and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO), including the Committees to Review the Worker and Public Health Activities Program Administered by the Department of Energy and the Department of Health and Human Services; the Expert Panel on Persian Gulf War and Health; the Human Health Effects from Chernobyl Radiation Exposure; Circadian Disruption and Human Health; and the Hair Dye Exposure and Human Cancer Risk. He has also served on several editorial boards including the European Journal of Cancer, Journal of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, International Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Genetics, Journal of Environmental and Public Health, and Journal of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention.

Zheng is the principal investigator for several epidemiological studies in the United States, including epidemiological studies of breast cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma and testis cancer. He has conducted or collaborated various epidemiological studies in China including epidemiological studies of breast cancer; liver cancer; lung cancer; asthma; air pollution and adverse birth outcomes; a cohort study of metal exposure and human health; a cohort study of coal miners and health effects; stove intervention and respiratory diseases; air pollution intervention during Beijing Olympics and human health; prenatal exposure to metals, organochlorines and PAHs and low birth weights; and an experimental study of prenatal exposure to circadian disruption and development in rats.

International Activity

• Research Training for Study of Air Pollution Control in China
  Beijing, China (2011)
  China's extraordinary, rapid economic development has brought severe environmental deterioration which can have major global impacts through emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and through large scale transport of pollution. Facing many challenges in confronting the crucial environmental health issues, one of the major challenges China faces today is the severe lack of trained personnel in all major areas of environmental health sciences. The primary goal of this program is to build a center of excellence in research and teaching in environmental health sciences within the Chinese National Institute of Environmental Health and Related Product Safety (IEHS), which is mandated by the central government to be responsible for China's environmental health and monitoring. The program is (1) training scientists urgently needed in the IEHS to develop appropriate strategies to better understand and more effectively respond to the emerging threat from the vast environmental pollution and deterioration in China and (2) building an infrastructure that will allow IEHS to function as a national center for teaching and research in environmental health sciences. The training goals will be achieved through trainees, selected from faculty and existing pre- and post-doctoral programs at IEHS, who will receive education and mentoring at Yale University School of Public Health (YSPH) through long-term, intermediate-, and short-term training. The training will emphasize principles and methods in six major areas: environmental health, environmental epidemiology and molecular epidemiology, risk assessment, intervention trials and biostatistics. This training program will be administered by a Steering Committee with representation from both IEHS and Yale University. YSPH and IEHS have a strong history of prior research and training collaborations. We anticipate that trainees of this program will be uniquely qualified to be future leaders in the field of environmental health science in China.
• Research Training for Cancer Epidemiology & Biostatistics in China
  Beijing, China (2011)
  Following the rapid economic development and the severe environmental deterioration during the past three decades, human cancer risk has been increasing rapidly in China. Cancer now is the number one killer in China and the costs for cancer treatment in 2006 reached more than 20% of the annual total medical costs in China, and this number is actually considered to be seriously underestimated. Facing the grave consequence of the ever increasing cancer burden in China realizing that nationwide deterioration in environmental conditions and human health could jeopardize the economic development, the Chinese government has taken major steps to prevent and control cancer. China, however, faces many challenges in confronting and battling the war against cancer. One of the major shortcomings for cancer prevention and control in China today is the severe lack of well-trained personnel in all major areas of cancer studies. The primary goal of this program is to build a center of excellence in research and teaching in cancer studies within the Cancer Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CI-CAMS, the designated China National Cancer Center), which is mandated by the central government to be responsible for China's cancer prevention and control. The program is (1) training scientists urgently needed in the CI-CAMS to develop appropriate strategies to better understand and more effectively respond to the emerging threat from the increasing cancer burden in China (2) building an infrastructure that will allow CI-CAMS to function as a national center for teaching and research in cancer-related studies and (3) strengthening China's National Cancer Registration Office to function as a national center of excellence for coordinating and monitoring China's cancer registration. The training goals will be achieved through trainees, selected from faculty and existing pre/post-doctoral programs at CI-CAMS, who will receive education and mentoring at Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) through long-term/intermediate/short-term training or workshops and internet-based tutorial system. The training will emphasize principles and methods in major areas of cancer epidemiology and biostatistics. This training program will be administered by a Program Faculty with representation from both CI-CAMS and Yale University. Yale University, YSPH in particular, has a strong history of prior research and training collaborations with China. We anticipate that trainees of this program will be uniquely qualified to be future leaders in the field of cancer research in China.
• China, Air pollution, Climate change, Global, environmental health
  China (2010)
  Research Training for Study of Air Pollution Control in China

Education & Training

D.Sc.

Harvard University (1990)

Honors & Recognition

• Honorary M.A., Yale University
  (2007)