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I am a demographer, social epidemiologist, and quantitative social scientist.

My research focuses on the health of populations, and encompasses two interconnected areas: (1) social structure and inequality in health; and (2) population process of health, aging and mortality. 

In the first area, I have investigated health consequences of various social structures, institutions, and policies (e.g., income inequality, medicine, marriage, marriage market, and one-child policy); the role of selection vs. causation in the health production process (e.g., marriage and health, education and health); and the trends of socioeconomic and demographic disparities in health. In the second area, I have investigated population heterogeneity (at geographic level, e.g., country, and group level, e.g., race) and temporal trends (age, period, cohort) in mortality and life span; the role of cohort evolution and mortality selection in the cohort trend of demographic and biological aging; the origins and pathways of health and mortality over life course; and heterogeneity in the life course of obesity and its effect on mortality. Related to both areas, I am interested in developing and evaluating statistical and demographic methods to investigate the interplay of temporal changes, population dynamics, and population heterogeneity on the trends in health / mortality disparities and gap in life expectancy.

For more detailed description of my research, please refer to my personal webpage https://www.huizhenghome.com/research.html