About
Dr. Frank Hu is Chair of Department of Nutrition, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Hu received his MD from Tongji Medical College in China and MPH and PhD in Epidemiology from University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Nutritional Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Hu’s major research interests include epidemiology and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases through diet and lifestyle; gene-environment interactions; nutritional metabolomics; and nutrition transitions in low- and middle-income countries. Currently, he is Director of Boston Nutrition and Obesity Research Center Epidemiology and Genetics Core and Director of Dietary Biomarker Development Center at Harvard University. He has published a textbook on Obesity Epidemiology (Oxford University Press) and >1400 peer-reviewed papers with an H-index of 290. He served on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Preventing the Global Epidemic of Cardiovascular Disease, the Obesity Guideline Expert Panel, American Heart Association Nutrition Committee, and the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, USDA/HHS. He has served on the editorial boards of Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Diabetes Care, and Clinical Chemistry. Dr. Hu was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015. Dr. Frank Hu’s research has focused on diet/lifestyle, metabolic, and genetic determinants of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). His major research interests include epidemiology and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases through diet and lifestyle; gene-environment interactions and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes; nutritional metabolomics in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; and obesity, metabolic phenotypes, and cardiovascular disease in low and middle-income countries. Dr. Hu’s group has conducted detailed analyses of many dietary and lifestyle factors and risk of diabetes and CVD, including sugar-sweetened beverages, coffee, red meat, saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, iron, and dietary patterns in large prospective cohort studies including the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. These findings have contributed to current public health recommendations and policies for the prevention of chronic diseases. His group has also identified novel biomarkers and gene-environment interactions in relation to risk of obesity and diabetes by integrating cutting-edge omics technologies into epidemiological studies. In addition, Dr. Hu has conducted extensive research on nutrition transition, metabolic phenotypes, and cardiovascular disease in low and middle-income countries.
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Experience
Chair, Department of Nutrition
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston
Publication
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April, 2012
Red Meat Consumption and Mortality: Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies
Background Red meat consumption has been associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases. However, its relationship with mortality remains uncertain. Methods We prospectively observ...
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March, 2009
Mediterranean Diet and Incidence of and Mortality From Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke in Women
Background— Several studies have documented an inverse association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), but few data are available on the r...
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March, 2006
Vitamin D and Calcium Intake in Relation to Type 2 Diabetes in Women
OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine the association between vitamin D and calcium intake and risk of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—In the N...
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July, 2005
Diet-quality scores and plasma concentrations of markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction
Background: Endothelial dysfunction is one of the mechanisms linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Objective: We assessed the association between several diet-quality score...
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December, 2004
Adiposity as Compared with Physical Activity in Predicting Mortality among Women
Background Whether higher levels of physical activity can counteract the elevated risk of death associated with adiposity is controversial. Methods We examined the associations of the bod...
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December, 2004
Adiposity as Compared with Physical Activity in Predicting Mortality among Women
Background Whether higher levels of physical activity can counteract the elevated risk of death associated with adiposity is controversial. Methods We examined the associations of the bod...
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November, 2004
Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Risk of Major Chronic Disease
Background: Studies of fruit and vegetable consumption in relation to overall health are limited. We evaluated the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and the incidence of cardio...
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October, 2004
Major dietary patterns are related to plasma concentrations of markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction
Background Endothelial dysfunction is one of the mechanisms linking diet and the risk of cardiovascular disease. Objective We evaluated the hypothesis that dietary patterns (summary measu...
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August, 2004
Glycemic index, glycemic load, and dietary fiber intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes in younger and middle-aged women
Background Increasing evidence suggests an important role of carbohydrate quality in the development of type 2 diabetes. Objective Our objective was to prospectively examine the associati...
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March, 2004
Inflammatory Markers and Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes in Women
We conducted a prospective, nested, case-control study of inflammatory markers as predictors of type 2 diabetes among 32,826 women who provided blood samples in 1989 through 1990 in the Nurs...
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