PhD Students

Zihan is a last-year PhD student in Biostatistics. His research focus on developing advanced methods for genetic association data, including mediation analysis and Gene-Environment interactions on human complex traits.

Jiaqi Hu is a doctoral student at the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health. Having graduated from Peking University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Art degree, she continued to study and conduct research in genetic epidemiology. Her research interest is to identify genetic variants that increase risk for complicated diseases and combine genetic and environmental information to predict individual risk of disease.

Esther Kang is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology with a primary focus on genetic epidemiology. She is a member of Dr. Andrew DeWan's lab in the Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology (CPPEE). Her current research investigates genetic contributions underlying fetal growth, anthropometric traits, cardio-metabolic outcomes, and other complex traits.

Yining Li is a doctoral student at the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health. She finished her undergraduate study at Peking University with a Bachelor of Medicine degree. She is currently interested in incorporating analytical methods to identify common variants related to different phenotypes, especially those in chronic non-communicable diseases.

Emma J. Mew is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology. Emma has worked in a variety of research and applied public health settings with focus on mental health and health equity research. Emma is interested in global mental health research with focus on youth and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Emma holds a Bachelor of Science from Dalhousie University and a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Katerina Santiago is a PhD student in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health. She earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine and her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Biology with Honors from the University of Miami. Prior to her doctoral studies, Katerina worked as a research associate at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine where her research focused on occupational exposures and their association with various health effects such as injuries and cancer and how such risks vary by race and ethnicity. Her current research interests are epidemiology of cancer, with a specific interest in gastrointestinal cancers, and how genetic risk interacts with environmental and occupational exposures.

Giselle Bellia is a PhD Student at the Yale School of Public Health, following her graduation from the department of Environmental Health Sciences MPH program. She holds a BA in psychology from Seton Hall University. She is interested in psychiatric epidemiology, with a specific interest in environmental influences on fetal and childhood neurodevelopment. She also enjoys learning about innovative research and statistical methodologies to explore these interests.

Meet the Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology's (CPPEE) Xuejuan Ning.

Jingyuan is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She holds a master's degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences from YSPH and completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology at UC, San Diego. Her current research interests center around the early origins of neuropsychiatric disorders and possible transmission of disease risks across multiple generations due to adverse intrauterine exposures.