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Dr. Jie Zhu

  • Associate Professor - School of Family & Consumer Sciences
Portrait of Dr. Jie Zhu

Biography and education

Dr. Zhu is currently a tenured associate professor of Human Nutrition. He earned his B.S. and M.D. in Clinical Medicine from Wuhan University, followed by a Ph.D. in Internal Medicine with a focus on Gastroenterology and Nutrition from the First Clinical Medical College at Wuhan University. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in Human Nutrition at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Zhu’s research focuses on personalized nutrition within the framework of Food is Medicine. His work investigates how diet/nutrient intake interacts with genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors to influence the risk of human chronic diseases. Utilizing systems biomedical approaches, he aims to uncover inter-individual differences in nutrient metabolism and diet-related disease susceptibility. His long-term goal is to develop personalized nutrition recommendations and evidence-based dietary strategies for disease prevention and precision health. Dr. Zhu has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Diabetes Care and JAMA Network Open, and has presented his findings at national and international conferences. He has been recognized with multiple research awards and serves as a reviewer for external grants as well as high-impact academic journals.

In addition, Dr. Zhu prioritizes excellence in teaching and mentoring. He actively engages students in research. Through hands-on mentoring, his students have obtained research awards, presented research findings at national academic conferences (e.g., American Society for Nutrition Annual Meeting), and published several original research papers as first authors or co-authors in high-quality peer-reviewed journals.

Teaching Interests

Research Interests

  • Zhu, Jie (Principal), Shen, Xiaoxi (Co-Principal), Wang, Kaipeng (Co-Principal). Pork intake, Genetic Susceptibility, and Social Determinants in Association with Risk of Diabetes among a Population-based Prospective Study of US Hispanics/Latinos, National Pork Board, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $55000. (Submitted: April 23, 2025, Funded: September 1, 2025 - Present). Grant.
  • Zhu, Jie (Principal), Shen, Xiaoxi (Co-Principal), Bishop, Nicholas (Co-Principal), Metsis, Vangelis (Co-Principal). Exploring Interaction of One-carbon Metabolism Nutrients Intakes and Genetic Susceptibility on Risk of Metabolic Syndrome among Multi-ethnic US Adults with Diverse Socio-demographic, Biomedical, and Lifestyle Characters, Multidisciplinary Internal Research Grant (MIRG), Texas State University, $12000. (Funded: September 1, 2022 - August 31, 2024). Grant.
  • Zhu, Jie (Principal). Exploring Interaction of One-carbon Metabolism Nutrients Intakes and Genetic Susceptibility on Risk of Metabolic Syndrome among Multi-ethnic U.S. Adults with Diverse Socio-demographic, Biomedical, and Lifestyle Characters, Community Health and Economic Resilience Research Fellowship Grant, Texas State’s Translational Health Research Center, State, $90417. (Funded: June 1, 2022 - August 31, 2023). Grant.
  • Zhu, Jie (Principal). Maternal Choline and Betaine Intakes during Pregnancy and Risk of Gestational Diabetes, Miying (Shanghai) Cultural Creative Co., LTD, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $10000. (Funded: February 1, 2021 - December 30, 2024). Grant.
  • Zhu, Jie (Principal), Shen, Xiaoxi (Co-Principal), Metsis, Vangelis (Co-Principal). One-carbon Metabolism Nutrients Intakes, Genetic Susceptibility, and Social Determinants in Association with Diabetes Incidence among the U.S. Hispanic Adults: HCHS/SOL, TXST CADS 2024 Catalyst Research Awards, Texas State Center for Analytics and Data Science, Texas State University, $1000. (Submitted: December 22, 2024, Funded: February 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024). Grant.
View all grants
  • Zhu, J., Shen, X., Liu, Y., Yang, K., Wu, H., Lingpeng Lu, L., … Zhu, J. (2025). Associations of serum choline, betaine and trimethylamine N-oxide with gestational diabetes mellitus among Chinese pregnant women. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention, & Health, 8(1):e001111. https://doi.org/doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2024-001111. Impact factor(2024): 3.3
  • Zhu, J., Saikia, G., Zhang, X., Shen, X., & Kahe, K. (2024). One-carbon Metabolism Nutrients, Genetic Variation, and Diabetes Mellitus. DIABETES METAB J, 48(2):170-183. https://doi.org/doi: 10.4093/dmj.2023.0272. Impact factor(2024): 6.8
  • Zhu, J., Chen, C., Lu, L., Shikany, J., D’Alton, M. E., & Kahe, K. (2023). Folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 status in association to metabolic syndrome incidence. JAMA Network Open, 6(1), e2250621. https://doi.org/doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.50621. Impact factor(2023): 13.8
  • Zhu, J., Liu, Y.-H., He, X.-L., Kohlmeier, M., Zhou, L.-L., Shen, L.-W., … Wang, B. (2021). Dietary Choline Intake during Pregnancy and PEMT rs7946 Polymorphism on Risk of Preterm Birth: A Case-control Study. Ann Nutr Metab., 76(6), 431–440. https://doi.org/10.1159/000507472 Impact factor (2021): 3.374
  • Zhu, J., Chen, C., Lu, L., Yang, K., Reis, J., & He, K. (2020). Intakes of Folate, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin B12 in Relation to Diabetes Incidence among American Young Adults: A 30-year Follow-up Study. Diabetes Care, 43(10), 2426–2434. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.2337/dc20-0828. Impact factor (2020): 19.112
View all scholarly/creative works
  • Award / Honor Recipient: The Hainan Medical University & The Chinese Health Policy and Management Society (CHPAMS) 2024 Annual Conference, The Chinese Health Policy and Management Society. July 6, 2024 - July 7, 2024
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Texas State’s Translational Health Research Center Faculty Fellowship Award, Texas State’s Translational Health Research Center. May 2022 - December 2023
  • Award / Honor Recipient: The Chinese Health Policy and Management Society 2023 Summer Meeting Scholarship Award, The Chinese Health Policy and Management Society. July 8, 2023 - July 10, 2023
  • Award / Honor Recipient: College of Applied Arts Achievement Award for Excellence, Scholarly/Creative Activities, College of Applied Arts. August 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Best Oral Presentation, The 7th Asian Congress of Dietetics. 2018
View all awards
  1. Member

    Graduate Admissions Committee

  2. Member

    Scholarship Awards Committee

  3. Organizer

    University translational science scholar showcase

  4. Member

    SFCS Recruitment committee

  5. Member

    Policy Committee

  6. Member

    Personal Committee

  7. View all activities