Yu-Jie Chiou

Yu-Jie Chiou joined Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) and Big Data Institute under the supervision of Professor Cornelia van Duijn. He completed his Doctor of Medicine degree at Kaohsiung Medical University and MSc Health and Society: Social Epidemiology at University College London (Distinction), with the dissertation “Midlife physical activity on later-life cognition and brain health.” Prior to joining NDPH, he worked as a lecturer and attending physician specialising in psychiatry in Taiwan. His graduate study is fully funded by Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Grant. 

For his DPhil study, he will continue his research into Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on quantifying the genetic information and integration of epidemiological data. He investigates how genetics, epidemiological data, particularly education, vascular risk factors, neuroimaging information interact in their effects on the odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The big dataset of the major consortia investigating Alzheimer’s disease (European Alzheimer's Disease DNA BioBank (EADB) and Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP)) as well as UK Biobank will be applied in his study. With regard to the escalating availability of genetic information in clinical scenario, identifying eminently individualised medical intervention would become possible. His research could be an effective avenue toward prioritising complicated mechanisms related to intervention of Alzheimer’s disease. Eventually, his research would translate the genetic and epidemiologic findings into drug targets.