I am an Associate Professor of Sociology (with tenure) at Yale University, with secondary appointments in Biostatistics and Global Affairs. I direct the Computational Aging, Family, and Evidence Lab (Z-CAFE) and also serve as the founding faculty organizer of the Yale Population Studies Speaker Series, which brings together scholars working on population and health research. I completed my Ph.D. in Public Policy in 2019 and my MA in Economics in 2017, both from Duke University. 

My research focuses on how inequality is shaped, with a particular emphasis on health disparities, by examining determinants at the micro, meso, and macro levels. I investigate intra-household dynamics, organizational policies, and state- and national-level policies to understand their roles in producing and mitigating inequality. Additionally, I adopt a population-level and life-course approach to health and aging, generating nationally representative insights and tracing the cumulative effects of experiences across the lifespan.

I develop and evaluate statistical methods to study health disparities from a life-course perspective, with a focus on Bayesian approaches for modeling trajectories, integrating data sources, and constructing multi-state life tables. My work also advances causal inference by refining classic demographic and sociological methods, enhancing their applicability to complex social and health research.
​
My work has appeared in top general science journals (PNAS, Nature Human Behaviour), sociology journals (American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of Marriage and Family), demography journals (Demography,  Population and Development Review), quantitative methodology journals (Psychological Methods, Sociological Methodology), population health journals (Social Science & Medicine, International Journal of Epidemiology), and medical journals (JAMA Internal Medicine, Obesity, Age and Ageing). My projects have been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

My research has received media coverage from over 500 outlets in the United States, China, South Korea, India, and Singapore, including the New York Times Magazine, CNN, NBC, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Harvard Business Review, ThePaper.cn (China), and the Straits Times (Singapore). I have been interviewed for my expertise on flexible work arrangements and population policies in the US and China by BBC, NBC, China Global Television Network, and MoneyToday (South Korea).

I am a Butler-Williams Scholar and an IMPACT Faculty Scholar of the US National Institute on Aging, and a Next Generation Leader of the Committee of 100 (the leading organization of prominent Chinese Americans). I have been the recipient of the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship from the European Commission, the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad from the China Scholarship Council, and the Early Career Faculty Scholarship from the OAIC National Coordinating Center of the US National Institute on Aging. My work has received multiple academic awards from the American Sociological Association, the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Stratification and Mobility, IPUMS USA, the Southern Demographic Association, and the Social Science History Association. 
​
If you're interested in learning more about me and my academic journey, you can read an insightful interview article written by Aimee Bronfeld at Princeton University.