Jim Zhang
Professor of Global and Environmental Health
Research Professor of Global Health
Chair of the Environmental Sciences and Policy Division, Nicholas School of the Environment
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Jim Zhang
Professor of Global and Environmental Health
Research Professor of Global Health
Chair of the Environmental Sciences and Policy Division, Nicholas School of the Environment
Dr. Zhang joined the Duke Faculty in fall 2013 from the University of Southern California where he had been a professor of environmental and global health and the director of Environmental and Biomarkers Analysis Laboratory since 2010. His prior positions include professor, department chair, and associate dean at the Rutgers School of Public Health. Dr. Zhang has more than 140 peer-reviewed publications. His work has been featured in major international media such as the Time, the New York Times, BBC, ABC, CBS, Yahoo News, etc. His early work on characterizing sources of non-methane greenhouse gases made him one of the officially recognized contributor to the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to IPCC. He is the 2012 recipient of the Jeremy Wesolowski Award, the highest award of the International Society of Exposure Science. He also received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Rutgers Graduate School.
Dr. Zhang's research interests include developing novel biomarkers of human exposure and health effects, assessing health and climate co-benefits of air pollution interventions, and examining biological mechanisms by which environmental exposures exert adverse health effects. Dr. Zhang has led a number of international collaborations to study air pollution health effects and underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms. He is currently leading two multidisciplinary, multi-institutional centers studying the health impact of engineered nanomaterials.
Projects
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Potential Pathophysiologic Mechanisms Linking Air Pollution Exposure in Pregnant Women to Reduced Birth Weight
China, United States
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Effects of Air Pollution on Cardiopulmonary Disease in Urban and Peri-urban Residents in Beijing (AIRLESS)
China, United States, United Kingdom
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Influence of Indoor Air Filtration Strategies on Occupant Health Indicators
China
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The combined influence of outdoor and indoor pollutants on acute respiratory response of school children in China
China
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Health Assessment and Control Mechanisms for PM2.5 and Co-pollutants in the Built Environment
China
- Prospective Evaluation of Air Pollution, Cognition, and Autism from Birth Onward
- Risk Assessment for Manufactured Nanoparticies Used in Consumer Products
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Air Pollution Particle Effects on Human Antimycobacterial Immunity (MexAir)
United States, Mexico
- Biological Response to Air Quality Change in Beijing Pre-, Mid- and Post-Olympics
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Prospective Evaluation of Air Pollution, Cognition, and Autism from Birth Onward (PECABO)
United States
Publications
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Ge Y, Lin Y, Tsogtbayar O, Khuyagaa S-O, Khurelbaatar E, Galsuren J, et al. Interactive effects of air pollutants and viral exposure on daily influenza hospital visits in Mongolia. Environ Res. 2025 Mar 1;268:120743.Yang Z, Prox L, Meernik C, Raveendran Y, Press DJ, Gibson P, et al. Identifying predictors of spatiotemporal variations in residential radon concentrations across North Carolina using machine learning analytics. Environ Pollut. 2025 Feb 15;367:125592.Liao J, Yan W, Zhang Y, Berhane K, Chen W, Yang Z, et al. Associations of preconception air pollution exposure with growth trajectory in young children: A prospective cohort study. Environmental research. 2025 Feb;267:120665.Kahwaji M, Duttweiler L, Thurston SW, Harrington D, Miller RK, Murphy SK, et al. Gestational exposure to PM2.5, NO2, and sex steroid hormones: Identifying critical windows of exposure in the Rochester UPSIDE Cohort. Environ Epidemiol. 2025 Feb;9(1):e361.
See more publications at Scholars@Duke