Yeyi Zhu, PhD, MS

Yeyi Zhu, PhD, MS, is a Research Scientist III at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, Professor in the Department of Health Systems Science at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, and Adjunct Full Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. She also serves as Associate Director of the Center for Upstream Prevention of Adiposity and Diabetes Mellitus (UPSTREAM) at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

Dr. Zhu’s research focuses on the developmental origins and life-course prevention of cardiometabolic disease in women and children. She integrates multi-omics, electronic health records, geospatial and neighborhood-level data, and machine-learning methods to investigate the biological, behavioral, environmental, and social determinants of pregnancy complications and their long-term consequences. Her work has advanced understanding of the etiology, heterogeneity, and early prediction of gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, as well as their implications for subsequent diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease in mothers and offspring.

A major goal of Dr. Zhu’s research is to translate etiologic and mechanistic findings into precision prevention strategies. Her studies examine metabolomic and other molecular markers of gestational diabetes and progression to type 2 diabetes; environmental and neighborhood exposures associated with maternal and child health; and longitudinal patterns of pregnancy glycemia, blood pressure, and offspring growth. She leads and collaborates on multiple NIH-funded studies, including large population-based cohorts and prospective pregnancy and pediatric cohorts within the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Program.

Dr. Zhu received her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Fudan University, her master’s degree in Statistics and PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from The University of Texas at Austin, and completed postdoctoral training in reproductive and perinatal epidemiology at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health

Current Positions

• Research Scientist III, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
• Professor, Department of Health Systems Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
• Adjunct Full Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco

Section Affiliations

• Women’s and Children’s Health

Primary Research Interests

• Developmental origins of metabolic impairments
• Gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes
• Fetal growth and childhood obesity
• Nutrition in critical windows of development
• Prenatal exposure to environmental hazards

Related Websites

• My NCBI Bibliography
• UCSF Profile