About this Lab

The Chronic Disease Epidemiology Laboratory is collaborating with several large-scale epidemiological studies and clinical trials, including the Louisiana Experiment Assessing Diabetes outcomes (LEAD), the Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prevention Program, the Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Observational Study, and the Tianjin Children Cohort.

The LEAD cohort study:

Data on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the LEAD cohort study were obtained through the Research Action for Health Network (REACHnet). The dataset included electronic health record data for the study cohort between January 1, 2013, and October 10, 2020. This projected is supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and CDC.

Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prevention Program:

Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prevention Program is a four-year lifestyle intervention program among 1,180 women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) after delivery and their offspring. The main objective of this trial is to obtain new information of the interaction between lifestyle and genetic factors on the risk of type 2 diabetes in women with GDM after at least 1-year delivery. As a senior investigator, I am involved in a pregnancy lifestyle intervention RCT among 700 women with GDM. These projects have been funded by 1) European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD)/Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS)/Lilly Programme for Collaborative Research between China and Europe; and 2) International Diabetes Federation - Bringing Research in Diabetes to Global Environments and Systems (BRIDGES).

Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Observational Study:

Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Observational Study funded by the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) is a prospective cohort of 1200 women with GDM and 700 women without GDM who underwent 2-hour 75 g research oral glucose tolerance tests annually up to 4-8 y post-delivery.

Tianjin Children Cohort:

Tianjin Children Cohort is a longitudinal study of 600 GDM and 600 non-GDM mother-child pairs. This project is supported by the NIDDK to identify novel biomarkers that can reconstruct prenatal GDM exposure and profile future risks of childhood obesity and related cardiometabolic phenotypes.

Research in this laboratory is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes/Chinese Diabetes Society Program for Collaborative Research between China and Europe, and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Bringing Research in Diabetes to Global Environments and Systems (BRIDGES).

For more information, visit our laboratory website: http://labs.pbrc.edu/chronicdisease/