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Epidemiologists design and conduct investigations aimed at improving the health of groups of people by combining knowledge from the social sciences, medicine, biology, the environment, and statistics.
September 5, 2024 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
Growing up in China, Xuanxuan Zhu didn’t think much about health. Then a loved one died from liver cancer – pushing the importance of the issue to the forefront of her mind.
“The helplessness preying upon me when I witnessed a beloved family member withering away, because of the disease, was so unforgettable that I was determined to devote myself to enhancing human health,” Zhu says.
As a physical education student and competetive runner at Shanghai University of Sport, the undergraduate was introduced to the world of public health. The professionals she met were active in their field and broadened her perspective.
Zhu remembers the moment when she first became interested in the maternal and child health concentration of the field. She was studying overseas and noticed a pregnant woman exercising in a gym. Amazed, Zhu wondered if this was safe for mother and baby. Was it beneficial to their health? Why had she never seen this before, and how could she help this high-risk population?
“All the questions made me curious, and I realized that the only way to solve thousands of similar questions was to learn more myself,” Zhu says.
After graduation, she moved to East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania where she completed a Master of Public Health. But Zhu knew she needed to pursue a doctoral degree if she wanted to have an in-depth understanding of maternal and child health.
“As we all know, it is crucial to find a mentor who can guide you during the doctoral program,” Zhu says, who had already been reading the scientific papers published by Arnold School epidemiology professor Jihong Liu. “Dr. Liu’s research on perinatal epidemiology and physical activity in a pregnant population was a perfect match for my interests. And I noticed that the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics has a well-balanced curriculum and developed research resources that provide its graduates with a solid foundation for any future endeavor, be it in academics or the professional world.”
During her time in the Ph.D. in Epidemiology program, the Norman J. Arnold Doctoral Fellow zeroed in on maternal and child health, developing research interests in pediatric epidemiology and physical activity epidemiology. She served as a graduate teaching assistant in her own department, graduate research assistant with the Department of Exercise Science and led USC’s Maternal and Child Health Student Association as president.
To support her dissertation project, Zhu secured a SPARC Graduate Research Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research. Throughout her time at USC, she connected with mentors like Liu, epidemiology professors Anthony Alberg and Angela Liese, and exercise science professor Michael Beets.
“I am lucky to have met many excellent professors and researchers during my doctoral program, and I have benefited from all of their mentorship,” Zhu says.
After graduating in August, Zhu will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health through the Postdoctoral Intramural Research Training Award program. She is committed to becoming a leader in the field of maternal and child health by identifying lifestyle and nutritional factors that impact early childhood growth and designing innovative programs to promote healthy growth among children.
