Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Xiaobin Wang, MD, ScD ’91, MPH, pediatrician and molecular epidemiologist, focuses on early life origins of diseases, and maternal and child health
Contact Info
615 N. Wolfe Street, Room E4132
Baltimore
Maryland
21205
US
410.502.5831
Research Interests
early life origins of disease; birth cohort study; gene-environment interactions; maternal and child health; pediatrics; preterm birth; obesity; hypertension; asthma; food allergies; autism; ADHD;
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
ScD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
1991
MPH
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
1987
MD
Beijing Medical University
1983
Overview
Dr. Wang is a board certified pediatrician, maternal and child health researcher, and molecular epidemiologist. She directs the Center on Early Life Origins of Disease. Her work unites biomarkers, clinical medicine, epidemiology, and disease prevention. She has served as the principal investigator (PI) of multiple large-scale molecular and genetic epidemiological studies funded by the National Institute of Health and Maternal and Child Health Bureau, with a particular focus on environmental factors, nutritional biomarkers, genetic variants, epigenetic and metabolomic alterations, and their interactions in complex human diseases, including reproductive and pregnancy outcomes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, food allergy and asthma, as well as autism and other developmental disabilities.
Dr. Wang and her team have established three large study cohorts (Boston Birth Cohort, Chicago Family-based Cohort, and Chinese Twin Cohort). Along with extensive epidemiological and clinical data as well as related biorepositories, these cohorts are well-designed for studying a broad range of health and disease outcomes and early life precursors of pediatric and adult diseases.
Dr. Wang has authored and co-authored over 300 publications and many of them appear in prestigious medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Lancet. Her work has contributed to the understanding of environmental exposures, genetic susceptibility and gene-environment interactions in complex human diseases; and early life origins of chronic diseases.
Dr. Wang received her MD from Beijing Medical University in Beijing, China, and a master of public health from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans. She also received a doctor of science degree from the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore. She completed a three-year research fellowship in Environmental Epidemiology at the Harvard University School of Public Health and a residency in pediatrics at the Boston University Medical Center.
Dr. Wang and her team have established three large study cohorts (Boston Birth Cohort, Chicago Family-based Cohort, and Chinese Twin Cohort). Along with extensive epidemiological and clinical data as well as related biorepositories, these cohorts are well-designed for studying a broad range of health and disease outcomes and early life precursors of pediatric and adult diseases.
Dr. Wang has authored and co-authored over 300 publications and many of them appear in prestigious medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Lancet. Her work has contributed to the understanding of environmental exposures, genetic susceptibility and gene-environment interactions in complex human diseases; and early life origins of chronic diseases.
Dr. Wang received her MD from Beijing Medical University in Beijing, China, and a master of public health from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans. She also received a doctor of science degree from the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore. She completed a three-year research fellowship in Environmental Epidemiology at the Harvard University School of Public Health and a residency in pediatrics at the Boston University Medical Center.
Honors & Awards
1991 Inducted into Delta Omega, the Honorary Public Health Society
2001 Inducted into Society of Pediatric Research
2004 The Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Professorship, Children's Memorial Hospital and Children's Memorial Research Center, Northwestern University School of Medicine
2005 Elected Fellow of American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP)
2012- Zanvyl Krieger professorship in Child Health and Development, Johns Hopkins University
2014 Inducted into American Pediatric Society
2015 Recipient of the Inaugural Mentor Award by the Student Association of PFRH, JHBSPH
2018 Johns Hopkins University Discovery Award
2018 Elected Member, the National Academy of Medicine
2001 Inducted into Society of Pediatric Research
2004 The Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Professorship, Children's Memorial Hospital and Children's Memorial Research Center, Northwestern University School of Medicine
2005 Elected Fellow of American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP)
2012- Zanvyl Krieger professorship in Child Health and Development, Johns Hopkins University
2014 Inducted into American Pediatric Society
2015 Recipient of the Inaugural Mentor Award by the Student Association of PFRH, JHBSPH
2018 Johns Hopkins University Discovery Award
2018 Elected Member, the National Academy of Medicine
Select Publications
Selected from over 300 peer-reviewed publications
- Raghavan R, Selhub J, Paul L, Ji Y, Wang G, Hong X, Zuckerman B, Fallin MD, Wang X. A prospective birth cohort study on cord blood folate subtypes and risk of autism spectrum disorder. Am J Clin Nutr. 2020 Nov 11;112(5):1304-1317. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa208. PMID: 32844208; PMCID: PMC7657337.
- Hong X, Zhang B, Liang L, Zhang Y, Ji Y, Wang G, Ji H, Clish C, Burd I, Pearson C, Zuckerman B, Hu F, Wang X. Altered plasma metabolomic profile among women with preeclampsia and preterm delivery: implication for postpartum and long-term health. BMC Medicine, 2020 Oct 13;18(1):277. doi: 10.1186/s12916-020-01741-4. PubMed PMID: 33046083; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7552364.
- Chen L, Wang G, Bennett WL, Ji Y, Pearson C, Radovick S, Wang X. Longitudinal Trajectory of BMI from Ages 2 to 7 Years and Age at Peak Height Velocity in Boys and Girls of the Boston Birth Cohort. Journal of Pediatrics November 26, 2020. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.11.047
- Olapeju B, Saifuddin A, Hong X, Wang G, Summers A, Cheng TL, Irina Burd, Wang X. Maternal Preeclampsia Status during Pregnancy and Postpartum Plasma B-vitamin and Homocysteine Profiles in a High-Risk Multiethnic US Population. J Women’s Health (Larchmt). 2020 Nov 16;. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2020.8420. PubMed PMID: 33252313.
- Wang G, Tang W, Wills-Karp M, Ji H, Bartell TR, Ji Y, Hong X, Pearson C, Cheng TL, Wang X. A Nonlinear Relation Between Maternal Red Blood Cell Manganese Concentrations and Child Blood Pressure at Age 6–12 y: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study, The Journal of Nutrition, 2021; nxaa368, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxaa368
Projects
Early Life Determinants of Obesity in U.S. Urban Low Income Minority Birth Cohort
Reproductive trajectory, neighborhood dynamics and preterm birth
A Prospective Birth Cohort Study on Pre- and Peri-natal Determinants of Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities
Prenatal Multi-Level Stressors and Alterations in Maternal and Fetal Epigenomes
Maternal Stress and Preterm Birth: Role of Genome and Epigenome
Preterm Birth, Maternal and Cord Blood Metabolome, and Child Metabolic Risk
MCHB Autism Longitudinal Data Project