Frank B. Hu
Primary Faculty

Frank B. Hu

Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology

Nutrition

Other Positions

Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Epidemiology

Epidemiology

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Chair, Department of Nutrition

Nutrition

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Professor of Medicine

Medicine-Brigham and Women's Hospital

Harvard Medical School


Overview

Dr. Frank Hu is Chair of Department of Nutrition, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Hu received his MD from Tongji Medical College in China and MPH and PhD in Epidemiology from University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Nutritional Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Hu’s major research interests include epidemiology and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases through diet and lifestyle; gene-environment interactions; nutritional metabolomics; and nutrition transitions in low- and middle-income countries. Currently, he is Director of Boston Nutrition and Obesity Research Center Epidemiology and Genetics Core and Director of Dietary Biomarker Development Center at Harvard University. He has published a textbook on Obesity Epidemiology (Oxford University Press) and >1400 peer-reviewed papers with an H-index of 290. He served on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Preventing the Global Epidemic of Cardiovascular Disease, the Obesity Guideline Expert Panel, American Heart Association Nutrition Committee, and the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, USDA/HHS. He has served on the editorial boards of Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Diabetes Care, and Clinical Chemistry. Dr. Hu was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015.

Dr. Frank Hu’s research has focused on diet/lifestyle, metabolic, and genetic determinants of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). His major research interests include epidemiology and prevention of cardiometabolic diseases through diet and lifestyle; gene-environment interactions and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes; nutritional metabolomics in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; and obesity, metabolic phenotypes, and cardiovascular disease in low and middle-income countries. Dr. Hu’s group has conducted detailed analyses of many dietary and lifestyle factors and risk of diabetes and CVD, including sugar-sweetened beverages, coffee, red meat, saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, iron, and dietary patterns in large prospective cohort studies including the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. These findings have contributed to current public health recommendations and policies for the prevention of chronic diseases. His group has also identified novel biomarkers and gene-environment interactions in relation to risk of obesity and diabetes by integrating cutting-edge omics technologies into epidemiological studies. In addition, Dr. Hu has conducted extensive research on nutrition transition, metabolic phenotypes, and cardiovascular disease in low and middle-income countries.

MD, 1988
Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, China

MPH, 1993
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois

PhD, 1996
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois

Scientific Award Keynote Speaker, 2022 Annual Scientific Program2022
Chinese American Medical Society (CAMS)

Boyd Orr Trust Fund Lecturer, The Nutrition Society, UK-Ireland2020

Ancel Keys Memorial Lecturer American Heart Association Scientific Sessions2018

Elected member, National Academy of Medicine 2015

Kelly West Award in Outstanding Achievement in Diabetes Epidemiology, American Diabetes Association2010

Established Investigator Award, AHA2002
American Heart Association

Research Paper Listed as American Heart Association's Top Ten Research Advances for 20012001
American Heart Association

Elizabeth Barrett-Connor research Award Finalist in Epidemiology for Young Investigators, AHA1998
71st American Heart Association Scientific Sessions

Charles A. King Trust Research Fellowship1998
The Medical Foundation, Boston

Research Paper Listed as American Heart Association's Top Ten Research Advances for 19971997
American Heart Association


Bibliography

Meat consumption and incident type 2 diabetes: an individual-participant federated meta-analysis of 1·97 million adults with 100?000 incident cases from 31 cohorts in 20 countries.

Li C, Bishop TRP, Imamura F, Sharp SJ, Pearce M, Brage S, Ong KK, Ahsan H, Bes-Rastrollo M, Beulens JWJ, den Braver N, Byberg L, Canhada S, Chen Z, Chung HF, Cortés-Valencia A, Djousse L, Drouin-Chartier JP, Du H, Du S, Duncan BB, Gaziano JM, Gordon-Larsen P, Goto A, Haghighatdoost F, Härkänen T, Hashemian M, Hu FB, Ittermann T, Järvinen R, Kakkoura MG, Neelakantan N, Knekt P, Lajous M, Li Y, Magliano DJ, Malekzadeh R, Le Marchand L, Marques-Vidal P, Martinez-Gonzalez MA, Maskarinec G, Mishra GD, Mohammadifard N, O'Donoghue G, O'Gorman D, Popkin B, Poustchi H, Sarrafzadegan N, Sawada N, Schmidt MI, Shaw JE, Soedamah-Muthu S, Stern D, Tong L, van Dam RM, Völzke H, Willett WC, Wolk A, Yu C, Forouhi NG, Wareham NJ.

Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2024 Sep. 12(9):619-630. PMID: 39174161

Publisher Correction: Understanding the genetic complexity of puberty timing across the allele frequency spectrum.

Kentistou KA, Kaisinger LR, Stankovic S, Vaudel M, Mendes de Oliveira E, Messina A, Walters RG, Liu X, Busch AS, Helgason H, Thompson DJ, Santoni F, Petricek KM, Zouaghi Y, Huang-Doran I, Gudbjartsson DF, Bratland E, Lin K, Gardner EJ, Zhao Y, Jia RY, Terao C, Riggan MJ, Bolla MK, Yazdanpanah M, Yazdanpanah N, Bradfield JP, Broer L, Campbell A, Chasman DI, Cousminer DL, Franceschini N, Franke LH, Girotto G, He C, Järvelin MR, Joshi PK, Kamatani Y, Karlsson R, Luan J, Lunetta KL, Mägi R, Mangino M, Medland SE, Meisinger C, Noordam R, Nutile T, Concas MP, Polašek O, Porcu E, Ring SM, Sala C, Smith AV, Tanaka T, van der Most PJ, Vitart V, Wang CA, Willemsen G, Zygmunt M, Ahearn TU, Andrulis IL, Anton-Culver H, Antoniou AC, Auer PL, Barnes CLK, Beckmann MW, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Bogdanova NV, Bojesen SE, Brenner H, Buring JE, Canzian F, Chang-Claude J, Couch FJ, Cox A, Crisponi L, Czene K, Daly MB, Demerath EW, Dennis J, Devilee P, De Vivo I, Dörk T, Dunning AM, Dwek M, Eriksson JG, Fasching PA, Fernandez-Rhodes L, Ferreli L, Fletcher O, Gago-Dominguez M, García-Closas M, García-Sáenz JA, González-Neira A, Grallert H, Guénel P, Haiman CA, Hall P, Hamann U, Hakonarson H, Hart RJ, Hickey M, Hooning MJ, Hoppe R, Hopper JL, Hottenga JJ, Hu FB, Huebner H, Hunter DJ, Jernström H, John EM, Karasik D, Khusnutdinova EK, Kristensen VN, Lacey JV, Lambrechts D, Launer LJ, Lind PA, Lindblom A, Magnusson PKE, Mannermaa A, McCarthy MI, Meitinger T, Menni C, Michailidou K, Millwood IY, Milne RL, Montgomery GW, Nevanlinna H, Nolte IM, Nyholt DR, Obi N, O'Brien KM, Offit K, Oldehinkel AJ, Ostrowski SR, Palotie A, Pedersen OB, Peters A, Pianigiani G, Plaseska-Karanfilska D, Pouta A, Pozarickij A, Radice P, Rennert G, Rosendaal FR, Ruggiero D, Saloustros E, Sandler DP, Schipf S, Schmidt CO, Schmidt MK, Small K, Spedicati B, Stampfer M, Stone J, Tamimi RM, Teras LR, Tikkanen E, Turman C, Vachon CM, Wang Q, Winqvist R, Wolk A, Zemel BS, Zheng W, van Dijk KW, Alizadeh BZ, Bandinelli S, Boerwinkle E, Boomsma DI, Ciullo M, Chenevix-Trench G, Cucca F, Esko T, Gieger C, Grant SFA, Gudnason V, Hayward C, Kolcic I, Kraft P, Lawlor DA, Martin NG, Nøhr EA, Pedersen NL, Pennell CE, Ridker PM, Robino A, Snieder H, Sovio U, Spector TD, Stöckl D, Sudlow C, Timpson NJ, Toniolo D, Uitterlinden A, Ulivi S, Völzke H, Wareham NJ, Widen E, Wilson JF, Pharoah PDP, Li L, Easton DF, Njølstad PR, Sulem P, Murabito JM, Murray A, Manousaki D, Juul A, Erikstrup C, Stefansson K, Horikoshi M, Chen Z, Farooqi IS, Pitteloud N, Johansson S, Day FR, Perry JRB, Ong KK.

Nat Genet. 2024 Aug. 56(8):1763-1764. PMID: 38982295


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Overall diet matters for healthy aging

While there is no one-size-fits-all diet for longevity, eating patterns that emphasize unprocessed or minimally processed foods including vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes, seem to support healthy aging