About Me
Dr. Lin Zhu is a medical sociologist and social epidemiologist at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University. Her research focuses on how social, cultural, and contextual factors influence health behaviors and outcomes across a wide range of population groups. Dr. Zhu draws from sociology, epidemiology, and psychology to conduct empirical research on variations in disease prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment outcomes. Her research portfolio encompasses cardiometabolic diseases, mental health conditions, and cancer prevention, early diagnosis, and management strategies.
A central focus of Dr. Zhu's work is understanding the co-occurrence of multiple chronic conditions and the complex interplay between various factors that influence these health patterns. She examines how biological, behavioral, psychosocial, and contextual elements interact across multiple levels to affect overall health behaviors and outcomes. Drawing from the NIH's Whole Person Health perspective, Dr. Zhu's research aims to identify comprehensive pathways and mechanisms that connect these multidomain factors to physical, mental, and cognitive health outcomes, providing insights that can inform more integrated approaches to disease prevention and management.
Currently, Dr. Zhu serves as Principal Investigator (PI) for an R21 study (MD019145-01, NIMHD/NIH) investigating the association between allostatic load—the \wear and tear\ on the body caused by repeated activation of physiological stress responses—and various chronic conditions among Asian Americans. She also leads a study (3U54CA221705-06S1, NCI/NIH) examining the burden of cardiometabolic comorbidities and risk factors among chronic hepatitis B patients, using datasets from All of Us.
Over the past decade, Dr. Zhu has made significant contributions to several large-scale research initiatives as a co-investigator, data manager, and evaluator. Currently, she serves as co-investigator on two large national longitudinal cohort studies: The Multiethnic Observational Study in American Asian and Pacific Islander Communities (MOSAAIC) study (UG3HL170034, NHLBI/NIH), aimed to contribute broadly to the understanding of the health and health disparities among people of Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander heritage with a particular focus on cardiac, metabolic, pulmonary and mental health; and the ASian American ProspectIve Research (ASPIRE) Cohort (U01CA290831, NCI/NIH), a national Asian American cohort for assessing multi-level determinants in cancer etiology. Dr. Zhu also serves as Co-Leader of the Planning & Evaluation Core (PEC) for the NIH-funded U54 TUFCCC/HC Regional Comprehensive Cancer Research Partnership (U54CA221704(5), NCI/NIH). Throughout these roles, she has demonstrated expertise in data collection quality assurance, process evaluation, instrument development, project implementation, data management, formal analysis, and finding dissemination.
Research Interests
- Cancer prevention and early diagnosis
- Cardiometabolic conditions
- Mental and cognitive health
- Chronic disease comorbidities
- Whole person health
- Longitudinal cohort studies
- Quantitative methodology
Education, Training & Credentials
- PhD, Medical Sociology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Memberships
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Heart Association
- Society of Behavioral Medicine
- American Public Health Association
- American Psychological Association
- American Sociological Association