Jiang He, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., an international leader in epidemiology and chronic disease prevention, has begun his role as Chair of the newly created Epidemiology Department in UT Southwestern’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health (OSPH).

Before joining UTSW in 2024, Dr. He served as Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Director of Tulane’s Translational Science Institute. His research focuses on reducing the risks of cardiometabolic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and chronic kidney disease.

Dr. He, also Professor of Internal Medicine and Neurology at UTSW, has significantly contributed to cardiometabolic disease epidemiology and prevention, leading groundbreaking population studies aimed at improving global health. The Johns Hopkins-trained epidemiologist has authored over 750 peer-reviewed research articles with more than 170,000 citations and has been the Principal Investigator or co-investigator on more than 50 studies, with more than $200 million funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine and has received the American Heart Association’s highest commendation, the Distinguished Scientist Award, as well as the Abraham Lilienfeld Award, the most prestigious honor in epidemiology, from the American College of Epidemiology.

Center Times Plus spoke with Dr. He about his career achievements and vision for the new Epidemiology Department.

What drew you to join OSPH as Chair of Epidemiology?

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is home to a large and diverse population with significant health disparities, creating the ideal “population laboratory” for epidemiology research. UTSW is an international leader in biomedical research with exceptional programs in basic, clinical, and translational sciences and is an exciting place to build a world-class epidemiology program.

Tell us about your groundbreaking research to reduce the risks of cardiometabolic diseases.

My research documented the “epidemiologic transition” in low- and middle-income countries, where cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer have become the leading causes of death, while hypertension, cigarette smoking, and diabetes have emerged as the primary preventable risk factors for premature death. These findings helped set national and global public health priorities. One study found the increased risk of heart attack from secondhand smoke was instrumental in developing policies for smoking bans in public places and workplaces; another documented the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and death from high dietary sodium intake that led to new national and international public health policy on reducing sodium intake.

In recent years, my focus on interventional studies to prevent and control cardiometabolic disease included randomized clinical trials and implementation research. My team conducted clinical trials documenting the safety of early antihypertensive treatment among patients with acute ischemic stroke, with findings cited in national and international clinical guidelines for acute stroke management. We also conducted clinical trials in resource-constrained populations in low- and middle-income countries, demonstrating the effectiveness of community health worker-led intervention in lowering blood pressure, improving hypertension control, and significantly reducing cardiovascular events and death. Furthermore, my team conducted clinical trials showing intensive blood pressure control reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia, and findings contributed to new national and international clinical guidelines for hypertension management.

What is your vision for the new Department of Epidemiology and its impact on the community?

Under UTSW and OSPH leadership and support, we will establish a world-class Department to conduct innovative, high-impact population health research; train the next generation of epidemiology leaders, researchers, and public health practitioners; and engage with communities, health care systems, and public health agencies to reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes for entire populations in Dallas, in Texas, and beyond.

How does UTSW support population health research partnerships?

UTSW leads in basic and clinical research in cardiometabolic diseases, brain health, and cancer. The institution’s existing strengths and resources will enable us to quickly build strong research and educational programs, including programs in cardiovascular epidemiology, neuroepidemiology, and cancer epidemiology that are focused on cutting-edge population health research. Through community collaborations, we can establish an applied infectious diseases epidemiology program emphasizing infectious disease surveillance and control and a maternal and child epidemiology program focused on women’s health, child health, and life course epidemiology research.

UTSW’s existing partnerships with Parkland Health, Dallas County Health and Human Services, community organizations, and primary care clinics enable implementation research in large ethnic minority communities and low-income groups facing health disparities. The UT Southwestern Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program has forged partnerships to conduct community-based participatory research. We hope to secure NIH funding to conduct community-based, large-scale intervention studies aimed at improving population health.

What advances in epidemiology do you see coming?

Technological advances in genomics and bioinformatics will allow epidemiologists to study genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors and their interactions that influence health, which could lead to more accurate and personalized interventions. Big data from electronic health records, wearable devices, and social media, as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, will enable epidemiologists to discover new risk factors, identify high-risk individuals and populations, forecast outbreaks of infectious diseases, and predict health care resource needs.

Epidemiology is undergoing a transition, shifting from a focus on observing disease distribution (incidence, prevalence, and mortality) and risk factors in populations to developing and implementing new interventions to prevent and control diseases. Epidemiologists play a leading role in the design, analysis, and dissemination of large-scale, multicenter clinical trials, community-based intervention programs, health system-based pragmatic trials, and implementation research. Working with multidisciplinary teams, we test innovative preventive and therapeutic interventions aimed at improving health for all, resulting in improved population health on a global level.