I am a first-year PhD student in Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, supervised by Dr. Yuan Ma. Prior to this, I completed my ScM in Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2023-2025), where I worked as a research assistant under the guidance of Dr. Jennifer A. Schrack and Dr. Ciprian Crainiceanu, with additional collaborations with Dr. John Muschelli, Dr. Amal A. Wanigatunga, Dr. Lacey Etzkorn, and Dr. Pablo Martinez-Amezcua. I also underwent master training in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Renmin University of China (2022-2023) under Dr. Yu Wang. My academic foundation was established with a Bachelor of Engineering from Zhejiang University (2018-2022), where I engaged in research collaborations with Drs. Yu Zhang, Ming Chen, Baiyi Lu, and Li Li.

My research interests center on the intersection of aging biomarkers, wearable devices, cognitive function, and multi-omics data. I am particularly passionate about developing and applying advanced methods including causal inference, functional data analysis, and machine learning approaches. I have co-authored over 10 peer-reviewed publications and developed several R packages for analyzing complex data.

🔥 News

• 2025.10:  🎉 My undergraduate thesis was accepted in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry!
• 2025.07:  🎉 My undergraduate work was accepted for publication in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety!
• 2025.05:   I graduated from Hopkins with an ScM degree in Epidemiology.
• 2025.05:   I received the Abe Lilienfeld Scholarship Fund ($5,000) at Hopkins.
• 2025.05:  🎉 My Mendelian Randomization paper was accepted for publication in Food and Function.
• 2025.03:  🎉 My Step Harmonization paper was accepted for publication in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A.
• 2025.02:   I was admitted to the PhD Program in Population Health at Harvard!

📝 Publications

Peer-reviewed

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2025)

Eicosapentaenoic acid modulates 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol di-palmitate ester-induced disrupted metabolism: a dual-approach analysis using non-targeted metabolomics and computational modeling

Sunan Gao¹, Yimei Tian¹, Zhoujing Zhu, Shixin Zhang, Xuzhi Wan, Wei Jia, Haoyu Li, Jingjing Jiao, Zhen Meng, Yu Zhang

Food and Function (2025)

Exploring causal links in the gut–brain axis: a Mendelian randomization study of gut microbiota, metabolites, and cognition

Sunan Gao, Angela Y. Xiao, Siyu Zou, Tongxu Li, Heming Deng, Yu Wang

The Journals of Gerontology: Series A (2025)

Comparing Step-Counting Algorithms for High-Resolution Wrist Accelerometry Data in Older Adults in the ARIC Study

Sunan Gao, Xinkai Zhou, Lily Koffman, Amal A Wanigatunga, Jennifer A Schrack, Ciprian M Crainiceanu, John Muschelli, III

Journal of Affective Disorders (2023)

Effects of accelerated biological age on depressive symptoms in a causal reasoning framework

Sunan Gao, Heming Deng, Shaobo Wen, Yu Wang

BMC Bioinformatics (2022)

A machine learning-based data mining in medical examination data: a biological features-based biological age prediction model

Qing Yang¹, Sunan Gao¹, Junfen Lin, Ke Lyu, Zexu Wu, Yuhao Chen, Yinwei Qiu, Yanrong Zhao, Wei Wang, Tianxiang Lin, Huiyun Pan, Ming Chen

• A new method for internal urinary metabolite exposure and dietary exposure association assessment of 3-MCPD and glycidol and their esters based on machine learning, Yimei Tian¹, Sunan Gao¹, Fan Zhang, Xuzhi Wan, Wei Jia, Jingjing Jiao, Yilei Fan, Yu Zhang Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (2025)

• A Fresh Perspective on Examining Population Emotional Well-Being Trends by Internet Search Engine: An Emerging Composite Anxiety and Depression Index, Yu Wang, Heming Deng, Sunan Gao, Tongxu Li, Feifei Wang, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2024)

• Reconstructing hepatic metabolic profile and glutathione-mediated metabolic fate of acrylamide, Yong Wu, Yaoran Li, Wei Jia, Li Zhu, Xuzhi Wan, Sunan Gao, Yu Zhang, Environmental Pollution (2023)

• Soy protein/chitosan-based microsphere as Stable Biocompatible Vehicles of Oleanolic Acid: An Emerging Alternative Enabling the Quality Maintenance of Minimally Processed Produce, Sunan Gao, Mingyi Yang, Zisheng Luo, Zhaojun Ban, Ya Pan, Mengyun Tu, Quan Ma, Xingyu Lin, Yanqun Xu, Li Li, Food Hydrocolloids (2022)

• Machine learning prediction of exposure to acrylamide based on modelling of association between dietary exposure and internal biomarkers, Xuzhi Wan, Yiju Zhang, Sunan Gao, Xinyi Shen, Wei Jia, Xingqi Pan, Pan Zhuang, Jingjing Jiao, Yu Zhang, Food and Chemical Toxicology (2022)

• Atmospheric pressure plasma jet pretreatment to facilitate cassava starch modification with octenyl succinic anhydride, Shengyang Ji, Tao Xu, Weisu Huang, Sunan Gao, Yongheng Zhong, Xuan Yang, Mohamed Ahmed Hassan, Baiyi Lu, Food Chemistry (2022)

• The chemical composition and potential role of epicuticular and intracuticular wax in four cultivars of table grapes, Mingyi Yang, Zisheng Luo, Sunan Gao, Tarun Belwal, Lei Wang, Ming Qi, Zhaojun Ban, Bin Wu, Fengzhong Wang, Li Li, Postharvest Biology and Technology (2021)

• Application progress and prospect of light-emitting diode light technology in food preservation, Juncen Dong, Sunan Gao, Jianchu Chen, Science and Technology of Food Industry (2020)

Under review

• Trajectories of Cognitive Decline and Late-Life Physical Activity in Older Adults: The ARIC Neurocognitive Study, Jennifer A. Schrack (Advisor), Sunan Gao, Amal A. Wanigatunga, Lacey Etzkorn, Ryan J. Dougherty, Alden L. Gross, Anis Davoudi, Vadim Zipunnikov, Lin Yee Chen, Rebecca F. Gottesman, Francesca R. Marino, Priya Palta, Jill A. Rabinowitz, Adam P. Spira, Ciprian M. Crainiceanu, Publication Committee

• Characterizing Time-of-Day Physical Activity Patterns Across Domain-specific Cognitive Decline Trajectories in Older Adults: A Longitudinal Cohort Study, Sunan Gao, Ciprian Crainiceanu, Anis Davoudi, Ryan J. Dougherty, Lacey Etzkorn, Priya Palta, Amal A. Wanigatunga, Adam P. Spira, Jennifer A. Schrack, Publication Committee

• Function on Scalar Regression with Complex Survey Designs Lily Koffman, Sunan Gao, Xinkai Zhou, Andrew Leroux, Ciprian Crainiceanu, John Muschelli Biometrics

• Effects of Dietary Patterns and Sodium Intake on Blood Pressure Variability: Results from the DASH and DASH-Sodium Trials, Siyu Zou, Sunan Gao, Stephen P. Juraschek, Edgar R. Miller III, Kunihiro Matsushita, Lawrence J. Appel, Journal of Hypertension

• Relationship between Health Literacy and Comorbidity burden of Chronic Diseases, along with an analysis of the mediating role of lifestyle behaviors among middle-aged and elderly in China, Tongxu Li, Sunan Gao, Heming Deng, Yu Wang, Aging and Society

• Frequent consumption of palm-oil-rich ultra-processed foods deteriorates glucose metabolism dysfunction Yimei Tian, Zongmei Yang, Jia Zeng, Denghui Meng, Sunan Gao, Fan Zhang, Yang Ao, Hao Ye, Wei Jia, Xuzhi Wan, Jingjing Jiao, Yu Zhang, Nature Metabolsim

🎖 Honors and Awards

• 2025.05 Abe Lilienfeld Scholarship Fund (one student per year at BSPH, across master’s and doctoral students)
• 2023.08 Master’s Tuition Scholarship, Johns Hopkins University
• 2022.05 Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis (Top 1%)
• 2021.10 National Scholarship (Top 1%)
• 2020.10 National Scholarship (Top 1%)
• 2020.05 Gold Prize, China International Student Innovation Competition (Top 1%)
• 2019.10 National Scholarship (Top 1%)

📖 Educations

• 2025.08 - 2029.05 (Expected), PhD in Epidemiology, Harvard University, Boston, United States
• 2024.02 - 2025.05, Certificate in Clinical Trial, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States
• 2023.08 - 2025.05, ScM in Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States
• 2018.08 - 2022.06, B.E. in Food Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
• 2018.08 - 2020.08, Minor in Psychology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

💬 Teaching Experiences

• 2025.09 - 2026.04 (Expected), MPH in Epidemiology program, Statistical Consultant, Harvard University
• 2024.09 - 2025.05, Epidemiologic Methods (I-III), Tutor, Johns Hopkins
• 2024.08 - 2025.05, Methods in Biostatistics (I-IV), Teaching Assistant, Johns Hopkins
• 2020.10 - 2021.01, Engineering Mechanics, Tutor, Zhejiang University

💼 Editorial Activities (Peer Reviewer)

• Medicine & Science & Sports & Exercise; Lipids in Health and Disease; Food Hydrocolloids; Frontiers in Aging