Associate Professor, Deputy Director, Master's Supervisor, Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University. She currently serves as the Secretary General of the Eighth National Committee on Maternal and Child Health Standards, and is currently a member of the Committee on Early Life Development and Disease Prevention and Control of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association.

She graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Medicine degree in Maternal and Child Health from the School of Public Health, Peking University, and completed a Ph.D. in the same field in 2007. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Global Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from 2013 to 2014.

For the past two decades, she has conducted epidemiological research on maternal and child health, including leading the external evaluation of UNICEF's “Mother and Child Health Development Project” in poverty-stricken areas in western China for three consecutive cycles. Her extensive experience encompasses quantitative surveys, evaluation indicators, and project assessments in underdeveloped regions. Recently, her research has shifted to addressing psychological and behavioral issues in women and children, as well as early childhood development. She focuses on developing and promoting intervention strategies to improve children’s early environments and support systems, thus advancing maternal and child health services and policy-making.

Since beginning her professional career, she has undertaken over 40 research projects on maternal and child health of the National Health Commission, the National Nature Science Foundation of China, the Beijing Key Research and Development project, UNICEF, and UNFPA. She has published a total of 123 academic papers in domestic and international journals, including 85 papers with first author or corresponding author, with an impact factor of up to 18 points.

Psychological behavior of women and children

Maternal and Child Health Project Evaluation

Early Childhood Development

1. The Early Childhood Development Advocacy Project, 2024-2025, UNICEF funded.

2. The Formative Research on Responsive Care Interventions, 2023-2024, Key Research and Development Project of Peking University Health Science Center-Weifang Maternal and Child Health Joint Research Center-Yang Fan Project.

3. The Early Childhood Development Project, 2019-2023, UNICEF funded.

4. The study of reducing the neonatal death in Nepal, 2018-2019, the Beijing Key Research and Development project funded.

5. The External Evaluation for CCT Project, 2016-2017, UNICEF funded.

6. The study of relationship between brain executive function and the sialic acid level in premature infants, 2013-2015, National Science Foundation.

1. Gao Y, Sheng J, Mi X, Zhou M, Zou S, Zhou H. Household Water Access, Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Status among Preschoolers in Poor, Rural Areas of Central and Western China. Nutrients. 2022 Jan 20;14(3):458. doi: 10.3390/nu14030458. PMID: 35276816; PMCID: PMC8840283.

2. Jia K, Wang S, Dai Q, Feng Y, Zhang Q, Zhao Q, Chen F, Li Z, Xiao Y, Zhong Y, Zhu Z, Wang H, Wang J, Luo ZC, Zhou H, Gao Y. Breast-Milk Rubidium and Other Trace Elements are Associated with Neurocognitive Development in Infants at Age of 8 Months. J Nutr. 2022 Jun 9;152(6):1507-1514. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxac054. PMID: 35259274.

3. Gao Y, Wang Y, Mi X, Zhou M, Zou S, Zhou H. Intimate Partner Violence against Women Living in Inadequate Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Meta-Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Data. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 27;18(19):10138.

4. Gao Y, Wang Y, Zou S, Mi X, Kc A, Zhou H. Association of iron supplementation and deworming with early childhood development: analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys in ten low- and middle-income countries. Eur J Nutr. 2021 Sep;60(6):3119-3130.

5. Gao Y, Zhang L, Kc A, Wang Y, Zou S, Chen C, Huang Y, Mi X, Zhou H. Housing environment and early childhood development in sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-sectional analysis. PLoS Med. 2021 Apr 19;18(4):e1003578.

6. Liu X, Yang C, Yang Y, Huang X, Wang Y, Gao Y, Song Q, Wang Y, Zhou H. Maternal depressive symptoms and early childhood development: the role of mother-child interactions among mother-child dyads in rural areas of Central and Western China. PeerJ. 2021 Mar 30;9:e11060.

7. Huang Y, Wang Y, Chen C, Gao Y, Kc A, Wang X, Zou S, Zhou H. Association Between Violent Discipline at Home and Risk of Illness and Injury in Children: Findings From a Cross-sectional Study in Rural Western China. J Interpers Violence. 2021 Feb 12:886260521991895.

8. Gao Y, Mi X, Wang Y, Zou S, Zhou H. Association between Household Crowding and Violent Discipline and Neglect of Children: Analysis of Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys in 26 Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 10;18(4):1685.

9. Qu X, Wang X, Huang X, Ashish KC, Yang Y, Huang Y, Chen C, Gao Y, Wang Y, Zhou H. Socio-emotional challenges and development of children left behind by migrant mothers. J Glob Health 2020;10(1):010806.

10. Zhou H, Qu X, Yang Y, Kc A, Liu X, Yang C, Wang A, Huang Y, Sun J, Huang X and others. Relationship between moderate to late preterm, diet types and developmental delay in less-developed rural China. Nutr Neurosci 2020:1-10.