Zheng Liu

Assistant Professor,doctoral supervisor
liuzheng@bjmu.edu.cn
NO. 38 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China

Personal profile

Zheng Liu (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0405-2348), Assistant Professor/Associate Researcher, Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, China, has been selected for the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST. She obtained Bachelor in Southern Medical University (2011), obtained Master in Peking University (2014), obtained PhD in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2017); conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University from 2017 to 2020.

Our research focuses on children's behavioral and mental health, and clinical research on maternal and child health. The member of the behavioral health branch of the Chinese Association for Health Promotion and Education; the youth member of the Sixth Editorial Board of the Chinese Journal of Children's Health Care; the statistical editorial board member of Chinese Journal of Modern Medicine; the member of Chinese Review Editor of Frontiers in Endocrinology and Frontiers in Pediatrics; the associate Editor of Reproductive Health; as a project leader responsible for the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the 14th Five-Year Plan of Beijing Municipal Education Science, etc, and have received the Huaxia Medical Science and Technology Award. Innovative research results as the first or corresponding author have been published in JAMA Pediatrics, Obesity Reviews, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and other internationally recognized journals. We have established interdisciplinary clinical research cooperation platforms with multiple affiliated hospitals such as Peking University First Hospital, Peking University People's Hospital, and Peking University Third Hospital.

We are recruiting PhDs and postdoctoral fellows in the following research areas, which are valid all year round, and welcome interested parties to contact us by email.

Main research directions

1. Autonomous health behavior and intelligent intervention;

2. Clinical-issue driven epidemiological studies.

Representative scientific research projects

1. 2024-2027: A study of the mechanism of action and intervention effects of autonomy motivation support on obesity-related behaviors in preadolescent children: an integrated framework based on SDT-TPB. National Natural Science Foundation of China. PI.

2. 2026-2028: Longitudinal observational cohort of patients with pregnancy complicated by thyroid cancer: Characteristics of tumor dynamic evolution and assessment of maternal and infant outcomes. The Clinical Cohort Project of Peking University Third Hospital. Co-PI.

3. 2020-2022: The effects and mechanisms of ISP pathway genes on changes of obesity-related phenotypes among children: a prospective, parallel-group controlled behavioral intervention. National Natural Science Foundation of China. PI.

4. 2023-2025: Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST. PI.

5. 2024-2025: Promoting Mechanisms and Effectiveness of Intervention on Healthy Behavior of Adolescents. Beijing Municipal Education Science "14th Five-Year Plan" Project. PI.

10 representative papers

[Research direction: Autonomous health behavior and intelligent intervention]

1. Liu Z#, Gao P, Gao A, et al. Effectiveness of a Multifaceted Intervention for Prevention of Obesity in Primary School Children in China: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatrics.2022; 176 (1): e214375..

2. Wang Y, Yang Y, Chen J, Du MF, Sun Y, Wang D, Jia H, Hu GL, Man ZY, Zhang T, Zuo SH, Chu C, Chang MK, Niu ZJ, Xiong Y, Li H, Yao S, Chen L, Ren J, Kang YM, Yuan ZY, Wang DL, Lip GYH, Liu Z* (Co-corresponding author), Mu JJ*. Transition of BMI Status From Childhood to Adulthood and Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Syndrome in Midlife: A 36-Year Cohort Study. Diabetes Care. 2025:dca250027.

3. Chen J, Xiao WC, Zhao JJ, Heitkamp M, Chen DF, Shan R, Yang ZR, Liu Z (Corresponding author). FTO genotype and body mass index reduction in childhood obesity interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity Reviews. 2024;25(5):e13715.

4. Chen J, Shan R, Wang Y, Zhang XR, Xiao WC, Liu Z (Corresponding author). Personality traits and co-occurrence of depressive symptoms and high BMI: a prospective cohort study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2025;34(2):729-738.

5. Chen J, Yang Y, Zhou ZY, Shan R, Luo JH, Liu JY, Zhang XR*, Liu Z*(Co-corresponding author). The association between children's motivation type and emotional overeating. Eur J Pediatr. 2025;184(4):266.

[Research direction: Clinical-issue driven epidemiological studies]

6. Xiao WC, Li X*, Shan R, Mei F, Song SB, Chen J, Sun BK, Yuan CH, Liu Z* (Co-corresponding author). Pregnancy and Progression of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Propensity Score-Matched Retrospective Cohort Study. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2024;109(3):837-843.

7. Li X, Xiao WC, Mei F, Shan R, Song SB, Sun BK, Bao HL, Chen J, Yuan CH*, Liu Z* (Co-corresponding author). The Association of Pregnancy with Disease Progression in Patients Previously Treated for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Propensity Score-Matched Retrospective Cohort Study. Journal of Women's Health (Larchmt). 2023;32(11):1174-81.

8. Shan R, Li X*, Chen J, Chen Z, Cheng YJ, Han B, Hu RZ, Huang JP, Kong GL, Liu H, Mei F, Song SB, Sun BK, Tian H, Wang Y, Xiao WC, Yao XY, Ye JM, Yu B, Yuan CH, Zhang F, Liu Z* (Co-corresponding author). Interpretable Machine Learning to Predict the Malignancy Risk of Follicular Thyroid Neoplasms in Extremely Unbalanced Data: Retrospective Cohort Study and Literature Review. JMIR Cancer. 2025 Feb 10;11:e66269.

9. Li X, Yang WY, Zhang F, Shan R, Mei F, Song SB, Sun BK, Chen J, Hu RZ, Yang Y, Yang YH, Liu JY, Yuan CH, Liu Z (Corresponding author). Size-Specific Predictors for Malignancy Risk in Follicular Thyroid Neoplasms: Machine Learning Analysis. JMIR Cancer. 2025 Jul 11;11:e73069.

10. Liu Z#*, Sun YY, Zhong BL. Mindfulness-based stress reduction for family carers of people with dementia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2018;8(8):CD012791.