Professor
Department of Sociology University of Toronto |
Hui Zheng is a demographer, social epidemiologist, and quantitative social scientist. His research focuses on understanding the causes, heterogeneity, inequality, and trends in population health and aging, and on developing statistical and demographic methods to interrogate the sociological, demographic, epidemiological and biological utility of various theories and conceptualizations of health and mortality. He has studied the impact of social structures and institutions—such as income inequality, medical expansion, work environment, and the marriage market—on health outcomes; trends in health disparities; heterogeneity in aging and mortality; the life course effects of obesity; and the role of selection in health production and aging. His current projects address rising health challenges in the U.S., nativity disparities in labor market outcomes, aging, and health, and life course determinants and consequences of cognitive aging. His work has been supported by the U.S. CDC and NIH, published in leading journals including American Sociological Review, Demography, American Journal of Epidemiology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science and Medicine, and PNAS, and covered by media outlets such as Time, The New York Times, The Atlantic, USA Today, Newsweek, and The Times (UK). He has received publication awards from ASA and IPUMS. He currently serves as a Deputy Editor of Demography.
News and updates10-2025: My new article with Wei-hsin Yu on whether immigrants experience morbidity and disability disadvantages at older ages was published in Demography. This paper underscores the need for scholars of immigration and health to be cautious about dataset-specific nuances.
07-2025: Paper on identifying the social mechanisms for Multiracial-Monoracial health disparities was published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Proud of my students Yoonyoung Choi (now an assistant professor of sociology at University of Arizona), Jacob Tarrence (now a research scientist at Oregon Office of Forecasting, Research and Analysis), and former research assistant Likun Cao (now an assistant professor of sociology at Purdue University) for leading this article. 05-2025: Paper with Leafia Ye on U.S.-born Older Asians' diminishing health advantage was published in The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences. 03-2025: Paper with Wei-hsin Yu on immigrant morbidity-mortality paradox was published in Demography. 03-2025: Paper with Yoonyoung Choi and Taehyun Kim on narrowing, stalling, and widening Black-White mortality gap was published in Demographic Research. 02-2025: Paper with Ming Wen and others on contribution of social and lifestyle factors to changes in cognitive functioning was published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 10-2024: Had a great visit to Case Western Reserve University, and gave a talk at the Department of Sociology. 07-2024: Had a great visit to Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and gave a presentation at Institute of European and American Studies. 06-2024: Had a great visit to my alma mater, Renmin University of China, and gave a talk at School of Social Research. 04-2024: Paper with Yao Lu and Man Yao on emerging health disparities among college graduates was published in Social Science Research. 02-2024: Paper with my student Yoonyoung Choi on reevaluating the "deaths of despair" narrative was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 01-2024: Gave a virtual talk at Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University. 11-2023: Had a great visit to Princeton University, where I gave a talk at the Office of Population Research. 10-2023: Delivered a keynote speech at the annual conference held by the Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS). CAPS is a collaborative initiative involving three upstate New York universities—Syracuse University, Cornell University, and the State University of New York at Albany. 10-2023: After several years, "Understanding the Health Decline in Boomers to Millennials" finally finds its perfect home at Social Science & Medicine. 09-2023: Had a great visit to University of Macau, where I gave a talk at the department of sociology. 05-2023: Will become a Deputy-Editor for Demography, the flagship journal of the Population Association of America. 05-2023: Will join the Program Committee for 2024 Population Association of America Annual Meeting, which will take place in Columbus, Ohio in April 2024! 04-2023: My paper with Wei-hsin Yu on immigrants' persistent mortality advantages received the IPUMS Health Surveys Research Award. 02-2023: Interviewed by NBC News on “Education may be the best way to protect against cognitive decline, new research suggests.” 01-2023: Gave a virtual talk at The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Social Sciences. 12-2022: Gave a virtual talk at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Division of Social Science. 11-2022: My paper with Vincent Roscigno and Martha Crowley on workplace age discrimination and its social-psychological costs was published in Society and Mental Health. 10-2022: Had a great visit to Penn, where I gave a talk at the Population Studies Center seminar. 10-2022: My paper with Wei-hsin Yu on immigrants' persistent mortality advantages was published in Demography. 09-2022: My paper with Wei-hsin Yu on immigrants' survival advantage after unemployment and the racial and gender heterogeneity therein was published in a special issue of Journal of Social Issues: Well-being of Migrants and Immigrants: Perspectives in Asia and from Asians in North America. 06-2022: Gave a virtual talk at my alma mater, Renmin University of China. 05-2022: Was promoted to the rank of Professor. 05-2022: My research on the long-lasting impact of exposure to rising income inequality during childhood on declining Americans' health was reported in The Hill. 05-2022: "Rising childhood income inequality and declining Americans’ health" was published in Social Science & Medicine. |