Experts Advancing Global Health

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Elaine A. Yu, Ph.D., MPH

Assistant Investigator

Elaine A. Yu, Ph.D., MPH, is an assistant investigator at Vitalant Research Institute, San Francisco. The overarching goals of her research are to improve metabolic health and to mitigate the adverse consequences of metabolic diseases, particularly among people residing in resource-limited environments and considered to have higher risk. She is an epidemiologist with a strong interest in precision health, particularly high-dimensional blood biomarkers such as metabolomic data. Her previous research has included study participants residing in Guatemala, Bangladesh, India and China. She received an award for early career contributions to the alleviation of micronutrient malnutrition from the International Life Sciences Institute in 2016.

Current Positions

Assistant Investigator, Vitalant Research Institute 

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California, San Francisco 

Links

UCSF

Education & Training

Ph.D., Nutritional Science, Cornell University 

MPH, Global Epidemiology, Emory University 

B.A., Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley

Publications

NLM PubMed

Google Scholar

ResearchGate 

Research Interest

My research program focuses on evaluating endotypes of nutrition-related diseases, with the long-term goals of identifying earlier and subclinical indicators of pathogenesis to improve prevention efforts of nutrition-related diseases. Nutrition-related diseases of interest include metabolic abnormalities and diseases such as diabetes and infectious diseases. Key questions of interest are centered around three themes: 1) metabolic health and homeostasis; 2) novel biomarkers of nutrition-related diseases; and 3) diverse clinical manifestations of nutrition-related diseases. My epidemiologic approach is centered around blood biomarkers, including high-resolution metabolomic data, in translational and precision health studies. Previous and future study populations of interest include people considered higher risk, particularly those residing in resource-limited environments or with medical conditions requiring blood transfusions, and blood donors.

Metabolic health and homeostasis
Novel biomarkers of nutrition-related diseases
Diverse clinical manifestations of nutrition-related diseases