Daniel Wang

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Biography

My research is situated where nutrition, the human microbiome and virome, and chronic disease epidemiology intersect. My program centers on three primary objectives: (1) elucidating the functional roles of the human microbiome and virome in chronic disease etiology, (2) developing personalized strategies to enhance prevention efforts for cardiometabolic diseases and Alzheimer's dementia, and (3) characterizing the human virome and its dynamic interactions with the host and other microbiome components in longitudinal studies.

I lead two NIA-funded projects (R01AG077489 and RF1AG083764) that interrogate precision dietary prevention of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), leveraging deeply phenotyped longitudinal cohorts (e.g., Nurses’ Health Study II) and randomized controlled trials (e.g., PREDIMED-PLUS and DIRECT-PLUS). Our work has: (i) defined distinct metabolomic profiles in APOE4 homozygotes that support targeted dietary strategies to mitigate ADRD risk (Liu et al., Nature Medicine, 2025); (ii) identified dysbiosis-related microbial markers, including Veillonella spp. and Erysipelatoclostridium ramosum, that predict cognitive decline (Ma et al., Neurology, 2023); and (iii) identified diet-based intervention targets for ADRD prevention and for slowing cognitive decline (Li et al., Neurology, 2025). Additionally, I serve as a PI of the NIH Human Virome Program and co-direct one of the five Human Virome Characterization Centers within the program (U54AG089325). Our center leverages viral genomics to map the human virome, i.e., viruses present on and within the human body, and to investigate its implications for health and disease in five Harvard/BWH cohort studies. Additionally, I am the PI of an R01 project (NR019992) that aims to identify gut microbial features and fecal and plasma metabolites that explain interindividual variation in cardiometabolic risk changes following dietary interventions in two randomized controlled trials. This project also investigates the combined effects of Mediterranean diet interventions and autologous fecal microbiota transplantation. My group was the first to demonstrate that the benefits of a Mediterranean diet on cardiometabolic risk are modified by baseline gut microbial profiles (Wang et al., Nature Medicine, 2021). Building on this work, I established the MicroCardio Consortium, expanding my research from two cohorts to encompass 14 population-based studies across ten countries. Through this consortium, we recently identified strain-specific microbial signatures and functional genes underlying the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (Mei and Wang et al. Nature Medicine. 2024).

Daniel Wang’s lab is always open to offering thesis research opportunities and student projects, and we invite research fellows to join our exciting ongoing work.

Education and Training

• ScD, Nutrition and Epidemiology
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• MD, Preventive Medicine
  Anhui Medical University
• MS, Nutrition
  National Institute for Nutrition and Health
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Metabolomics
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Human Microbiome and Computational Biology
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Publications

• Interplay of genetic predisposition, plasma metabolome and Mediterranean diet in dementia risk and cognitive function.

  Liu Y, Gu X, Li Y, Wang F, Vyas CM, Peng C, Dong D, Li Y, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Zeleznik OA, Kang JH, Wang M, Hu FB, Willett WC, Okereke OI, Eliassen AH, Kraft P, Stampfer MJ, Wang DD. Nat Med 2025 Aug 25

  PMID: 40855194

• Long-Term Intake of Red Meat in Relation to Dementia Risk and Cognitive Function in US Adults.

  Li Y, Li Y, Gu X, Liu Y, Dong D, Kang JH, Wang M, Eliassen H, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Wang D. Neurology 2025 Feb 11

  PMID: 39813632

• Strain-specific gut microbial signatures in type 2 diabetes identified in a cross-cohort analysis of 8,117 metagenomes.

  Mei Z, Wang F, Bhosle A, Dong D, Mehta R, Ghazi A, Zhang Y, Liu Y, Rinott E, Ma S, Rimm EB, Daviglus M, Willett WC, Knight R, Hu FB, Qi Q, Chan AT, Burk RD, Stampfer MJ, Shai I, Kaplan RC, Huttenhower C, Wang DD. Nat Med 2024

  PMID: 38918632

• The gut microbiome modulates the protective association between a Mediterranean diet and cardiometabolic disease risk.

  Wang DD, Nguyen LH, Li Y, Yan Y, Ma W, Rinott E, Ivey KL, Shai I, Willett WC, Hu FB, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Chan AT, Huttenhower C. Nat Med 2021 02

  PMID: 33574608

• Changes in Types of Dietary Fats Influence Long-term Weight Change in US Women and Men.

  Liu X, Li Y, Tobias DK, Wang DD, Manson JE, Willett WC, Hu FB. J Nutr 2018 11 01

  PMID: 30247611