Faculty A-Z

Zhiwei Gao

Professor of Clinical Epidemiology Ph.D., M.Sc. University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada), M.D., Tianjin Medical University (Tianjin, China)


Division of Population Health and Applied Health Sciences

Phone:
709-864-6523

Email:
zgao@mun.ca

Address:
Medical Education Building Faculty of Medicine, 4M130

Education:

PhD in Epidemiology (Feb 2013), University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) 
MSc in Epidemiology (Nov 2005), University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) 
MPH (Sep 1997), Peking Union Medical College (Beijing, China) 
MD (Jul 1991), Tianjin Medical University (Tianjin, China)

Training:

Postdoctoral fellow (May 2013 - Oct 2014), University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) 

Teaching:

I have served as the graduate course chair of MED 6260 (Applied Data Analysis for Epidemiology) since 2017, and as the undergraduate course chair of MED 5730 (Physician Competencies I – Epidemiology) for medical students since 2021. 

Zhiwei Gao is a Full Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Memorial University. Dr. Gao utilizes large, population-based datasets to study the epidemiology and genetic epidemiology of various complex conditions, including asthma, COPD, and multimorbidity. Dr. Gao has held key institutional leadership roles:

  • Academic Director: Statistics Canada Research Data Centre (RDC) at Memorial University (2016–2020)
  • Principal Investigator (Site): Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) (2025–present)
  • Co-Principal Investigator (Site): Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) (2019–2024)

Research Funding

  • Principal Investigator (PI) on 10 research grants, including two Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grants awarded in 2019 and 2024.
  • Co-Applicant on 17 additional research grants.

Journal publications:

Faculty of Medicine publication databases

Pubmed publications