Dr. Lei Hao currently is an Associate Professor in the Department of Allied and Public Health at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from Weifang Medical College with a bachelor’s degree in Clinical Medicine (MD) (2000) and an MS degree in Pediatrics from Peking University (2003). Dr. Hao received his doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences from Pennsylvania State University (2013). Following receipt of his doctoral degree, he completed his post-doctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hao’s research interests include understanding the mechanisms of obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases, and brown fat development. His current research is focused on exploring how a whole food plant-based diet regulates gut microbiota. Dr. Hao serves as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research and he is also an active member of the North American Chinese Association for Nutrition.

Dr. Shahjalal Hossain Khan currently serves as a Senior Scientist (Cell Lab) at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Middleton, WI, USA. He is a Former Lab Member of the Neurosignaling Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center/Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA, USA). He received his PhD degree in Nutritional Science from Texas Tech University in April 2017. His main research interests include cell biology, nanotechnology, biochemistry, plant physiology, plant biology, nutrient preferences, obesity, Alzheimer’s diseases, diabetes, and adipose tissue.

Dr. Yujiao Zu currently serves as a Research Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA. She joined the Nutrigenomics, Inflammation & Obesity Research (NIOR) Lab in the Department of Nutritional Sciences in 2020. She received her BS in Biological Engineering and MS in Food Sciences from Tianjin University of Science and Technology in China, and her PhD and two-year post-doctoral training in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Texas Tech University. Dr. Zu has published more than ten peer-reviewed research articles in nanotechnology, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. She has many innovative research experiences and entrepreneurial activities in the interaction between nutrients and obesity. She has received an NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) fund as an entrepreneurial lead and was a co-inventor on an international patent (PCT/US19/19036) of an anti-obesity product. Dr. Zu conducts research in nutrition and chronic diseases. Her research is focused on investigating interactions and underlying mechanisms between dietary components and obesity-associated disorders, especially insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. Currently, she is working on an NIH-funded (PI: Moustaid-Moussa) project to investigate responsible mechanisms of omega-3 fatty acids and temperature effects on subcutaneous adipose tissue browning independent of uncoupling protein 1.

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Dr. Shu Wang currently serves as a Professor of Nutrition at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University (ASU). She received her PhD degree in Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism from Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. Dr. Wang conducts innovative research in nutrition and nanomedicine. Her research focuses on using biocompatible and biodegradable nanocarriers to enhance bioactivities of phytochemicals for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease and obesity. She has been funded by a variety of federal, industry, and foundation agencies, especially three competitive NIH awards. Since 2009, she has published more than forty peer-reviewed articles and four book chapters. Dr. Shu Wang has received several research honors to recognize the quality of her research. These include the American Heart (AHA) Association Young Investigator Award Finalist, the 2014 Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Research Award in the Texas Tech University system, and the 2017 Mary Swartz Rose Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Nutrition. Dr. Wang is also a fellow of AHA and a member of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry editorial board. She has served on grant review panels of NIH and AHA.