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 4 international peer-reviewed publications and one poster presentation 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 will start in October 2023. Give glory to God the Father.

Supervisors:

Prof. Dieter Wolke

Prof. Siobhan Quenby

Email:

Xuan.zhao.2@warwick.ac.uk

A list of Publications:

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)