Hui Zheng
Professor, Department of Sociology
Hui Zheng is a professor in the Department of Sociology. A demographer, social epidemiologist and quantitative social scientist, he was previously a professor at Ohio State University and the University of Hong Kong, where he served as executive director of the Research Hub of Population Studies.
Zheng’s research focuses on understanding the heterogeneity, inequality, trends and causes of change in population health and aging, and on developing statistical and demographic methods to interrogate the sociological, demographic, epidemiological and biological utility of various theories and conceptualizations of health and mortality. He has studied the impact of social structures and institutions — such as income inequality, medical expansion, work environment and the marriage market — on health outcomes; trends in health disparities; heterogeneity in aging and mortality; the life course effects of obesity; and the role of selection in health production and aging.
Zheng’s current projects address rising health challenges in the U.S., nativity disparities in labour market outcomes, aging, and health, and life course determinants and consequences of cognitive aging.
His work has been supported by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, published in leading journals including American Sociological Review, Demography, American Journal of Epidemiology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science and Medicine, and PNAS, and covered by media outlets such as Time, The New York Times, The Atlantic, USA Today, Newsweek, and The Times (UK). He has received publication awards from the American Sociological Association and IPUMS.
Zheng received his PhD from Duke University.