About
Yi Zhang is an Assistant Professor at Duke University in the Department of Neurosurgery and Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics. She obtained her PhD in Bioengineering and has been developing machine learning methods for large-scale single-cell datasets, machine learning/AI methods for high-resolution spatial transcriptomics data, and integrative genomic methods to identify functional gene regulatory mechanisms behind disease-associated human genetic variants.
Research topics
- Geography
- Environmental science
- Political Science
- Meteorology
- Biology
- Ecology
- Mathematics
- Economics
- Demography
- Environmental protection
- Statistics
- Environmental health
- Medicine
- Business
- Virology
- Chemistry
- Environmental planning
- Climatology
- Environmental economics
Selected publications
The Lancet Planetary Health · 2022 · 212 citations
- Environmental science
- Demography
- Climatology
BACKGROUND: The health impacts of climate warming are usually quantified based on daily average temperatures. However, extra health risks might result from hot nights. We project the future mortality burden due to hot nights. METHODS: We selected the hot night excess (HNE) to represent the intensity of night-time heat, which was calculated as the excess sum of high temperature during night time. We collected historical mortality data in 28 cities from three east Asian countries, from 1981 to 2010. The associations between HNE and mortality in each city were firstly examined using a generalised additive model in combination with a distributed lag non-linear model over lag 0-10 days. We then pooled the cumulative associations using a univariate meta-regression model at the national or regional levels. Historical and future hourly temperature series were projected under two scenarios of greenhouse-gas emissions from 1980-2099, with ten general circulation models. We then projected the attributable fraction of mortality due to HNE under each scenario. FINDINGS: Our dataset comprised 28 cities across three countries (Japan, South Korea, and China), including 9 185 598 deaths. The time-series analyses showed the HNE was significantly associated with increased mortality risks, the relative mortality risk on days with hot nights could be 50% higher than on days with non-hot nights. Compared with the rise in daily mean temperature (lower than 20%), the frequency of hot nights would increase more than 30% and the intensity of hot night would increase by 50% by 2100s. The attributable fraction of mortality due to hot nights was projected to be 3·68% (95% CI 1·20 to 6·17) under a strict emission control scenario (SSP126). Under a medium emission control scenario (SSP245), the attributable fraction of mortality was projected to increase up to 5·79% (2·07 to 9·52), which is 0·95% (-0·39 to 2·29) more than the attributable fraction of mortality due to daily mean temperature. INTERPRETATION: Our study provides evidence for significant mortality risks and burden in association with night-time warming across Japan, South Korea, and China. Our findings suggest a growing role of night-time warming in heat-related health effects in a changing climate. FUNDING: The National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai International Science and Technology Partnership Project.
Air Quality Response in China Linked to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID‐19) Lockdown
Geophysical Research Letters · 2020 · 154 citations
- Environmental science
- Environmental health
- Meteorology
nationwide. Changes in human exposure are associated with about 2,100 more ozone-related and at least 60,000 fewer PM2.5-related morbidity incidences, primarily from asthma cases, thereby augmenting efforts to reduce hospital admissions and alleviate negative impacts from potential delayed treatments.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 220 citations
- Political Science
- Environmental economics
- Environmental science
exposure. The additional low-carbon energy polices required for China's air quality targets would lay an important foundation for its deep decarbonization aligned with the 2 °C global temperature target.
Frequent coauthors
- 43 shared
Rohit Mathur
Environmental Protection Agency
- 42 shared
Drew Shindell
- 37 shared
J. Jason West
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 35 shared
Christian Hogrefe
Research Triangle Park Foundation
- 33 shared
Jean‐François Lamarque
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research
- 33 shared
Steven J. Smith
Joint Global Change Research Institute
- 31 shared
Jesse O. Bash
Research Triangle Park Foundation
- 27 shared
Zachariah Adelman
Education
Ph.D., Bioengineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Awards & honors
- EECS Rising Star 2022
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