Ting Zhai

Research: I am a Ph.D. candidate in Population Health Sciences at Harvard University, advised by Dr. Zachary Nagel and committee members Drs. David Christiani and Liming Liang. My research integrates multi-omics data, longitudinal study design, and advanced statistical modeling to identify clinically relevant biomarkers, refine risk prediction models, and improve health outcomes in cancer and aging-related diseases (more on my thesis). My work spans:

• Genome Integrity & DNA Repair: Investigating DNA repair mechanisms, telomere biology, and mutational processes to understand cancer susceptibility, treatment response, and inter-individual variability.
• Multi-Omics & Functional Assays: Combining WGS/WES, DNA methylation, RNA-seq, and novel DNA repair assays to uncover disease mechanisms, and developing computational frameworks for population-based applications.
• Computational & Statistical Modeling: Leveraging Bayesian methods, causal inference, longitudinal and survival analysis, and machine learning to complex biological data and patient outcomes.
• Precision Medicine & Health Outcomes: Identifying molecular and phenotypic predictors of therapy response and prognosis to advance personalized treatments.

Previously, I earned my M.S. in Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where I was advised by Dr. David Christiani. My master’s research examined pulmonary function as a predictor of long-term survival among lung cancer patients, leveraging electronic health record (EHR) data from the Boston Lung Cancer Study. Before that, I obtained my MBBS in Preventive Medicine from Qingdao Univerisity, gaining a comprehensive foundation in clinical and occupational medicine, human physiology, and public health under the mentorship of Dr. Shuguang Leng and Dr. Jing Dong.