Dr. Yawei Zhang is the Chair of the Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Center; Associate Director of the National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Cancer Hospital/Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College. Dr. Zhang was an Associate Professor with tenure, Section Chief of Surgical Outcomes and Epidemiology at the Department of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine, Co-Assistant Director of Yale Cancer Center Global Oncology, and an Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health. She received a medical degree from West China University of Medical Sciences (now Sichuan University), MPH and PhD degrees from Yale University School of Medicine, and postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Zhang serves as a member of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Ethics Committee, Secretary Elect of the Asian National Cancer Center Alliance (ANCCA), and a leadership role in several professional organizations in China including Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, China Anti-Cancer Association, and Beijing Research Association for Chronic Diseases Control and Health Education. She is the General Editor of the  Encyclopedia of Global Health  ,  an Editor of the  Popularization Science Educational Manual for Primary Cancer Prevention , an Associate Editor for the  Journal of the National Cancer Center  and  Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention.

Dr. Zhang’s research has mainly focused on the fields of cancer epidemiology, environmental health, and health-related big data. As a Principal Investigator or co-Investigator, she has been leading or involved in research funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Natural Science Foundation of China , and China Ministry of Science and Technology. She is the author of over 400 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals in her field with more than 370 in English and more than 30 in Chinese (H-index: 78). Over the recent years, Dr. Zhang is leading an effort on primary cancer prevention in China, with establishing China Code Against Cancer and its website, building Smart Health Management Digital Platform for Primary Cancer Prevention (SmartHMDP-PCP), and training next generation of scientists on cancer prevention and control through IARC’s first regional center, IARC-NCC China Learning Center.