is the Neely Family Professor and Chair of the Division of Nutrition Epidemiology and Data Science at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, and a core faculty member at Tufts Food Is Medicine Institute. She is a nutritional epidemiologist with expertise in assessing dietary intake patterns, trends, and disparities in the population, and conducting observational studies and clinical trials to investigate the role of nutrition in chronic disease prevention and control. She has led pioneering work that assessed dietary intake in cancer survivors and its associations with treatment exposure, chronic health conditions, and quality of life. Dr. Zhang is committed to translating scientific evidence into programs, practices, and policies. She has developed intervention programs that help parents transition their family into healthy eating soon after the child completes active cancer treatment, and is leading Food is Medicine interventions that integrate food and nutrition into health care for patients with diet-sensitive conditions. Dr. Zhang’s research interests also include assessing the cost-effectiveness of population strategies to improve diet and reduce cancer burden and disparities in the US. Dr. Zhang’s work has been highlighted in the NIH Director’s Blog, NIH Research Matters, and the People’s Picks for Best Posts for the Year of 2019. She is a recipient of the Eileen O’Neil Citation for Excellence in Teaching and an inaugural recipient of the Miriam E. Nelson Tisch Faculty Fellow from Tufts University and the American Society for Nutrition Excellence in Nutrition Fellow.
