Xuan Zhao MSc. MD.

Ph.D. student

Developmental Psychology and Individual Differences, Lifespan Health, Wellbeing Group

Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School

Research Interests:

My Ph.D. project focuses on understanding the association between pregnancy and perinatal events on child development, especially among big babies (macrosomia).

The findings will have a potentially huge impact on obstetric care and families. Considering that 6-8% of all pregnancies are large babies, it is vital to supply solid empirical evidence to facilitate pregnant women, their partners, midwives, and obstetricians to make the right decisions.

I study this topic at the University of Warwick working with my supervisors Prof. Dieter Wolke and Prof. Siobhan Quenby. Prof. Dieter Wolke is an expert on early life development and developmental psychopathology from the Department of Psychology, and Prof. Siobhan Quenby is an expert in Obstetrics from Warwick Medical School. It is a unique opportunity to receive the best possible supervision in psychology and medicine from world-leading experts.

About me

Jesus Christ is my light. I have a medical background with Bachelor’s degree in Medicine (1^st class) in China and M.Sc. degree in Epidemiology (full scholarship) from Karolinska Institute, Sweden. After graduation, I worked as a research assistant in the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study that follows over 50,000 families in China. I was involved in multi-tasks from data collection and statistical analysis to drafting investigating the effects of restricted infant weight gain during the first year of postnatal to early neurodevelopment. To date, I have co-authored 5 international peer-reviewed publications and several oral or poster presentations at international academic summits. Recently, with strong support from Prof. Wolke and Prof. Quenby, I successfully secured Psychology Departmental BB2UP Ph.D. Fellowship and Chancellors International Scholarship (only one per department) at the University of Warwick, which started in October 2023. Give glory to God the Father.

Supervisors:

Prof. Dieter Wolke

Prof. Siobhan Quenby

Conferences:

BMFMS 2024 (poster presentation)

RCOG World Congress 2025 (oral presentation)

A list of Publications:

Zhao, X., Poskett, A., Stracke, M., Quenby, S., & Wolke, D. (2025). Cognitive and academic outcomes of large-for-gestational-age babies born at early term: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica, 104(2), 288–301. https://doi.org/10.1111/aogs.15001
Wolke, D., Zhao, X., & Quenby, S. (2025). The Trade-Off of Delivery Timing Between Reduced Perinatal Complications Versus Adverse Long-Term Outcomes. Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, 10.1111/ppe.70025. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.70025
Lu, M.S., Lu, J.H., Zhang, L.F., Liu, X., Zhao, X., Nagraj, S., Shen, S.Y., Xiao, W.Q., He, J.R. & Qiu, X. (2021) Infancy weight gain and neurodevelopmental outcomes among term-born infants at age one year: a large prospective cohort study in China. Child Neuropsychology. DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2021.1999402
Rahman, M.S., Zhao, X., Liu, J.J., Torres, E.Q., Tibert, B., Kumar, P., Kaldo, V., Lindefors, N., Forsell, Y. & Lavebratt, C*. (2019). Exercise Reduces Salivary Morning Cortisol Levels in Patients with Depression. Molecular Neuropsychiatry, 4(4), 196-203. https://doi: 10.1159/000494699
He, J.R., Ramakrishnan, R., Lai, Y.M., Li, W.D., Zhao, X., Hu, Y., Chen, N. N., Hu, F., Lu, J.H., Wei, X.L., Yuan, MY., Shen, S.Y., Qiu, L., Chen, Q.Z., Hu, C.Y., Cheng, K. K., Mol, B.W.J., Xia, H.M. & Qiu, X*. (2018). Prediction of Preterm Birth from Early Pregnancy Characteristics: Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 7(8), 185. https://doi: 10.3390/jcm7080185
Lu, M.S., Zhao, X., Wei, D.M., Zhang, J.Y., Li, Y.S., He, J.R., Xia, H.M. & Qiu, X*. Ambient temperature and reproductive health outcomes. Ambient Temperature and Health in China, 95-104. [ISBN 978-981- 13-2582-3 ISBN 978-981- 13-2583-0] https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2583-0
Zhao, X. (2012). Effect of Oral Contraceptives on Risk of High-incidence Diseases in Women and Its Safety Analysis. Xinli Yesheng, 2012(6), 585-587. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1007-8231.2012.06.694 (in Chinese)

Display name: Xuan Zhao
Email address: Xuan.Zhao.2@Warwick.Ac.Uk