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Liwei Chen

Associate Professor

Departments

DepartmentsType of Faculty
EpidemiologyFull Time
Expertise: 
Asian-American Communities
Cardiovascular Disease
Maternal and Child Health
Pediatrics
Pregnancy
Prenatal
Chronic Diseases
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Diabetes
Diet
Disease Prevention
Health Disparities
Lifecourse epidemiology
Metabolic Disease Prevention
Nutrition
Obesity
Observational Health Data
Prevention and Intervention
Public Health
Stroke
Women's Health
Contact Information
Phone: 
310-794-6677
Email: 
cliwei86@ucla.edu

Office: 76-080 CHS

Areas of Interest: 

Chronic diseases (e.g. obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stroke) prevention and intervention, maternal and child health, lifecourse perspective of chronic diseases, clinical trial, systematic review and meta-analysis, real world data and evidence (RWE).

Dr. Liwei Chen is an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.  Dr. Chen’s research mainly focusses on identifying effective lifestyle approaches to prevent/management obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other cardiometabolic diseases.  She is also interested in maternal and child health and the life-course approach of chronic disease epidemiology.  Dr. Chen is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including American Heart Association (AHA) Scott Grundy Fellowship Award for Excellence in Metabolism Research in 2011, Dean’s Exceptional Scholarship Award in 2016, and Dean’s Recognition on Outstanding Journal Publications in 2018 (Clemson University).  Dr. Chen has served as PI and Co-I for several federal, state, and university funded research projects, totaling about $9 million in research funding.  Dr. Chen has published 3 book chapters and 50 peer-reviewed papers in high impact journals.  She is also the member of Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER), The Obesity Society, American Heart Association (AHA), and American Diabetes Association (ADA). Dr. Chen is the grant reviewer for NIH (USA), National Medical Research Council (Singapore), Diabetes UK (United Kingdom), as well as journal reviewer for top biomedical, nutrition, and public health journals, including JAMA, Circulation, and Diabetes Care, AJCN, etc.

Dr. Chen received her Clinal Medicine degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, her M.S. degree in Human Nutrition from Iowa State University, her Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her Post-Doctoral Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) Fellowship from the NICHD/NIH.  Before joining UCLA, Dr. Chen served as Assistant Professor (tenure-track) in Epidemiology at Louisiana State University School of Public Health and Associate Professor (tenured) in Clemson University Department of Public Health.

Education: 
Post-Doctoral Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) Fellowship from the NICHD/NIH, Rockville, MD, US
PhD, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, US
MHS, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, US
MS, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, US
MD, Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi’an, China
This faculty member is available to serve as: 
Doctoral Advisor
Masters Advisor
PhD Committee Member
DrPH Committee Member
MS Thesis Committee Member

Please check with the faculty member or their office about availability to serve during current academic period.

Selected Publications: 
  • Francis E, *Johnstone L, Covington-Kolb S, Witrick B, Griffin S, Sun X, Crockett A, Chen L†. Group prenatal care attendance and women’s characteristics associated with low attendance: results from Centering and Racial Disparities (CRADLE Study). Matern Child Health J. 2019 Jun 24. doi: 10.1007/s10995-019-02784-7. PMID: 31236826
  • Francis E, Hinkle S, Rawal S, Donnelly S, Hediger M, Liu Danping, Chen L, Zhang C. Longitudinal Associations of Maternal Vitamin D Concentrations During Pregnancy and Neonate Anthropometric Measures. Nutrients. 2018 Nov; 10(11): 1631. (IF: 4.196). PMID: 30400155; PMCID: PMC6265933
  • Bedi J, Mayo R, Truong K, Chen L, Dickes L, Sherrill WW, Jones K. Endocrine Therapy Use in the 21st Century: Usage Rates and Temporal Trends Illustrate Opportunities for Improvement for South Carolina Medicaid Women. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. 2018 Oct;171(3):759-765.  (IF: 3.629). PMID: 29971626
  • Yoshida Y, Broyles S, Scribner R, Chen L, Phillippi S, Jackson-Thompson J, Simoes E, and Tseng S. Social support modifies the negative effects of acculturation on obesity and central obesity in Mexican men. Ethnicity and Health. 2018 Jun 26:1-12 (IF: 2.055). PMID: 299
  • Summey J, Chen L, Charron E, Mayo R, Sherrill W, Hudson J, Dickes L. Early treatment innovation for opioid-dependent newborns: a retrospective comparison of outcomes, utilization, quality, and safety 2006-2016. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 2018 Jun;44(6):312-320. PMID: 29793880
  • Chen Q, Francis E, Hu G, Chen L†. Metabolomics profiling in women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their offspring: review of metabolomics studies. Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications. 2018 May;32(5):512-523 
  • Zhang L, Scott J, Shi L, Truong K, Hu Q, Ewing A, Chen L†. Changes in utilization and peri-operative outcomes of bariatric surgery in large US hospital database, 2011-2014. Plus ONE. 2017 Oct 20;12(10)
  • Sheng B, Truong K, Spitler H, Zhang L, Tong X, Chen L†. The long-term effects of bariatric surgery on type 2 diabetes remission, micro- and macrovascular complications, and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity Surgery. 2017 Oct;27(10): 2724-2732
  • Booth J, LiJ, Zhang L, ChenL, Muntner P, EganB. Trends in prehypertension and hypertension risk factors in us adults: 1999-2012, Hypertension. 2017 Aug;70(2):275-284
  • Chen L, Crocket A, Covington-Kolb S, Heberlein E. Zhang L, Sun X. Reducing Disparities in Birth Outcomes: A Randomized Controlled Trial on CenteringPregnancy. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2017 Apr 13;17(1):118.
  • Chen L, Mayo R, Chatry A, Hu G. Gestational diabetes mellitus: Its epidemiology and implication beyond pregnancy. Current Epidemiology Reports, Springer, 2016
  • Chen L†, Li S, Zhu Y, He C, Buck Louis G, Yeung E, Hu FB, Zhang C. Age at menarche and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study among 27,482 women. Diabetes Care. 2016 Mar;39(3):469-71
  • Chen L, Simonsen N, Liu L. Racial difference of pediatric hypertension in relation to birth weight and obesity in the United States. PLoS ONE. 2015. 10(7):e0132606  
  • Chen L, Hu FB, Yeung E, Toaibs DK, Willett WC, Zhang C. Prepregnancy consumption of fruits and fruit juices and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study.Diabetes Care. 2012 May;35(5):1079-82
  • Chen L, Hu FB, Yeung E, Willett C, Zhang C. A prospective study of pre-gravid sugar-sweetened beverages consumption and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care. 2009. 32(12):2236-41  
  • Chen L, Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Cardiovascular Disease. Current Nutrition Reports. Springer, 2012 
  • Chen L, Zhang C, Yeung E, Ye A, Mumford S, Wactawski-Wende J, Schisterman EF. Age at menarche and metabolic markers for type 2 diabetes in premenopausal women: the BioCycle Study. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2011. 96(6):E1007-12
  • Chen L, Caballero B, Mitchell D, Loria C, Lin PH, Champagne CM, Elmer PJ, Ard JD, Batch BC, Appel LJ. Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with reduced blood pressure: a prospective study among U.S. adults. Circulation. 2010;121:2398-2406
  • Chen L†, Hu FB, Yeung E, Willett C, Zhang C. A prospective study of pre-gravid sugar-sweetened beverages consumption and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care. 2009. 32(12):2236-41
  • Chen L, Appel LJ, Loria C, Lin P, Champagne CM, Elmer PJ, Ard JD, Mitchell D, Batch BC, Svetkey LP, Caballero B. Reduction in consumptions of liquid calories and sugar-sweetened drinks are associated with weight loss: results from the PREMIER trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2009. 89(5):1299-306