Danxia Yu, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Epidemiology within the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her research focuses on the role of diet, lifestyle, and other modifiable risk factors, particularly gut microbiota, in the etiology, prevention, and treatment of obesity-related chronic diseases.
Dr. Yu’s major research interests include: epidemiology and prevention of chronic disease through a healthy diet and lifestyle; biomarkers and metabolomics in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; and diet-gut microbiota interactions and host cardiometabolic health. She has identified several dietary factors and novel biomarkers in relation to the risk and mortality of major chronic diseases by using resources from multiple population-based, prospective cohort studies conducted in China and in the US, including the Shanghai Women’s Health Study, the Shanghai Men’s Health Study, and the Southern Community Cohort Study.
Dr. Yu has also played an important role in an international lung cancer cohort consortium involving nearly two million study participants from the US, Europe, and Asia. Her future research will focus on diet, gut microbial metabolism, and human cardiometabolic health by integrating advanced metabolomics technology into epidemiological studies.
Key Research Areas
Cardiovascular Epidemiology
Coronary Artery Disease
Grants
2021-2026, NIDDK, The Gut Microbiota in Metabolic Surgery: A Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Omic, Longitudinal Study
2020-2024, NHLBI, Gut Microbial Metabolites and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: A Prospective, Multiethnic, Metabolomic Study