Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang appointed Associate Dean for Research

Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, Professor of Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health, has been appointed the new Associate Dean for Research beginning September 1, 2013.

Dr. Zhang has served as Co-Director of the UCLA Alper Center for Environment Genomics since 2002, Director of the Molecular Epidemiology Training Program since 1999, and Scientific Director of the UCLA Central Tumor Registry since 1997.

During his tenure at UCLA, he has served in a variety of leadership capacities, including Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology, Chair of the Faculty Executive Committee of the Fielding School of Public Health, Co-Director of Epidemiology at the Southern California Injury Research Center, Director of the NIEHS Molecular Epidemiology Planning Program, and Director of the Molecular Epidemiology and Carcinogenesis Program at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

At the National level, Dr. Zhang has been a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology since 1999 and he served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Epidemiology. Dr. Zhang served as a regular member of NIH's Epidemiology of Cancer Study Section, is currently a regular member of the NCI-J study section, and an ad hoc member of numerous NIH peer review study sections.

At a global level, Dr. Zhang has served as a World Health Organization Consultant for National Non-communicable Disease Prevention and Controls in China, senior scientific consultant of Jiangsu Provincial CDC and Zhejiang Provincial CDC in China, Director of Nutritional Epidemiology at the Institute of Nutritional Sciences, China Academy of Sciences, Visiting Professor of Schools of Public Health at Fudan University, Peking University, Nanjing Medical University and Peking Union Medical University. Dr. Zhang began his career as a barefoot doctor in China from 1969 to 1973. He served as a preventive doctor in a Schistosomiasis Control Program in Yangzhou, China from 1975 to 1978. Following a Medical Degree in Preventive Medicine from Shanghai Medical University in 1983, he studied cancer epidemiology and did post-doctoral training at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) at the World Health Organization in Lyon.

In addition to bringing both a global and national vision to this position, Zuo-Feng brings a deep commitment to training. He has been the Chair of 24 PhD committees and a member of 27 other PhD committees since he started at UCLA in 1997. He has trained over 30 post-doctoral fellows in the area of cancer and molecular epidemiology and HIV-related malignancies. Most of his trainees have gone on to academic, research and leadership positions and are active in cancer research.

Dr. Zhang's key goal is to foster internal and external collaborative relationships that lead to increased programmatic grants, and to support mentorship programs linking junior and senior faculty. He will be available to advise faculty on the development and growth of their research portfolios.