Hanzhang Xu, PhD, RN is an Assistant and Associate Professor at Duke University with a joint appointment in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and School of Nursing. She is also a Senior Fellow at Duke’s Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, a Faculty Affiliate at the Duke Global Health Institute, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Duke Kunshan University. As a geriatric nursing scientist and a health services researcher, her program of research falls under two themes: (i) addressing health disparities in cognitive aging among older adults from a global perspective; and (ii) integrating patient-reported factors to promote outcomes in older adults with cardiovascular disease. She is also interested in using digital technology to promote disease management in older patients with chronic disease. Currently Dr. Xu is the Principal Investigator on multiple projects funded by the National Institute of Health and the American Heart Association. These research projects leverage the strengths of electronic health records (EHR), Medicare claims, and national and international survey data to improve the cardiovascular and brain health of older adults through a lens of equity. Her ongoing work in these areas is exemplified with more than 50 peer-reviewed publications in top-tier journals in nursing, gerontology, and cardiovascular research. These studies have received extensive international media coverage, including in TIME, Forbes, and WebMD. In the past few years, she has also received several awards and honors such as the Huffman Splane Emerging Nurse Scholar and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) AGING Initiative Multiple Chronic Conditions Scholar.

John Ji is an Associate Professor at Tsinghua University’s Vanke School of Public Health, doctoral student advisor, and Adjunct Associate Professor at Duke Kunshan University Global Health Research Center. Previously, John was an Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the iMEP program at Duke Kunshan University, with a secondary appointment at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. John received his BA in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and an ScM in Epidemiology and ScD in Environmental Health from Harvard School of Public Health. John teaches a required course on research methods. He launched the first planetary health course at DKU.

John’s research in environmental epidemiology employs population studies to examine the impact of climate and environmental risk factors on health. Specifically, John focuses on how living environments can extend life expectancy and health span, with a particular interest in the effects of green spaces on life expectancy, the modification of air pollution impacts through the interaction of plant-based diets and built environment green spaces, and the development of health-oriented early warning systems for heatwaves. His research found functional aging as a critical climate-sensitive risk factor in the aging population, complementing traditional disease-oriented methods and enhancing adaptation and resilience in cities and communities.

John has authored over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles, featured in high-impact publications such as Environmental Health Perspectives, The Lancet Planetary Health, International Journal of Epidemiology, and Nature Medicine. Stanford/Elsevier lists him among the top 2% of scientists. He led a Lancet series on climate change and health adaptation in the Western Pacific region, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, aiming to shape local policies to enhance climate resilience and adaptation strategies.

John is an Associate Editor for The BMJ, leading a collection on large-scale cohort studies focused on shaping the future of epidemiological research in China. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, and formerly Senior Editor at The Lancet weekly journal. In addition to his editorial responsibilities, John is a councilor for the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) Asia Western Pacific Chapter and a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Climate Health Ethics.

Dr Jinkou (Button) Zhao is a senior specialist for evaluation and impact at the Global Fund. He has extensive experiences in the field of nutrition, infectious diseases, and chronic diseases as a range of professional roles from a junior epidemiologist to Department Director at Jiangsu provincial CDC, to a Chief for Strategic Information at U.S. CDC, a senior advisor at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a senior technical expert at the Global Fund over the past 36 years. Dr Zhao was trained as a physician, with a MSc in epidemiology and biostatistics, and a PhD in epidemiology. He teaches epidemiology at Nanjing Medical University, Wageningen University in the Netherland, University of Geneva in Switzerland and Oxford University in UK. He supervised more than 20 Masters or PhD students and published more than 260 articles including more than 100 on peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Zhibin Zhao received his Bachelor’s degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University (Qian Xuesen Honors Class) in June 2015, and his Ph.D. from Xi’an Jiaotong University in December 2020. During his doctoral studies, he spent a year at the University of Manchester conducting research in smart healthcare. He is currently an Associate Professor and Distinguished Research Fellow (National Young Talents Support Program B) at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Dr. Zhao’s primary research areas include intelligent operation and maintenance of high-end equipment, smart healthcare, and additive manufacturing monitoring. He has led numerous national-level projects, including key projects from the State Administration for Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense, the Science and Technology Committee of the Military Commission, integrated projects of the National Natural Science Foundation, key research and development sub-projects, and the Youth Fund.

He has published 31 papers as the first author or corresponding author in renowned SCI journals such as Nature Communications. His papers have been cited over 5000 times according to Google Scholar, and 8 of his SCI papers have been listed as ESI Highly Cited Papers. His research achievements have been recognized with several awards, including the First Prize of Shaanxi Provincial Technology Invention Award (4th/6), the “Top Ten Academic Newcomers” of Xi’an Jiaotong University, and the Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award of Xi’an Jiaotong University. Additionally, his work has received the “Xu Zongben Applied Mathematics Paper Award” and the “Andrew P. Sage Best Transactions Paper Award”. He was also listed among the world’s top 2% scientists in 2023 by Stanford University and Elsevier.

Dr. Zhao serves on the editorial boards of five SCI journals, including IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

Dr. Shuo Yang has over 15 years of experience in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), real world evidence, market access, and health policy analysis. Before joining IQVIA and taking lead in developing integrated solutions for clients’ needs in evidence generation throughout the lifecycle of innovative medical products, Dr. Yang has been with Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb in multiple global and local market roles, leading market access strategy, pricing, and HEOR teams. Dr. Yang graduated from Peking University Health Science Center with bachelor’s in science and obtained his PhD in Health Services Research, Management, and Policy from the University of Florida where he conducted multiple studies for Florida Medicaid Reform evaluation and its impact on Medicaid expenditures and beneficiaries’ health outcomes. He also holds master’s degrees in Pharmaceutical Science and Analytical Chemistry.

Dr. Weixi Jiang is currently a Youth Research Associate in the Department of Health Economics, School of Public Health, Fudan University. She obtained her Ph.D degree in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Amsterdam in 2021. Prior to joining Fudan, she was a research analyst at the Global Health Research Center of Duke Kunshan University. Dr. Weixi Jiang’s current research examines health system, health policy and intervention through a mixed-method approach, especially in the area of infectious disease control, healthcare financing and payment, and evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine.