I graduated in medicine from Kaohsiung Medical College in Taiwan, studied public, environmental and occupational health in the Institute of Public Health at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine, and got MSc and PhD degrees in Epidemiology and Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in United Kingdom. I have been working at the Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (merged from Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene and Institute of Environmental Health) of National Taiwan University College of Public Health since 1996. Most of our studies are based on epidemiological methods and focus on public, environmental and occupational health sciences, especially for solving emerging health issues in environmental and occupational medicine, reproductive and developmental epidemiology, children’s environmental health, and cancer causes and control. First of all, we set up occupational cohorts using labor health insurance databases including RCA corporation employees (1978-92; female, n=70,735; male, n=16,133), semiconductor industry cohort (1980-2000; male, n=19,816; female, n=27,610), Chinese herbalist cohort (1985-98; male, n=3,085; female, n=3,453), and lead exposure cohort (1992-98; male, n=18,010; female, n=11,497). We mainly explored occupational exposures on the risk of cancer and reproductive health in the occupational cohorts. (Academic Contributions: Please see Reproductive Hazards in the Workplace and Environment, Expert Witnesses for the RCA Corporation Employees Caring Association, and Preventive Actions of Banning Herbal Medicine Containing Aristolochic Acid)
Birth cohorts based on the recruitment and active follow-up of mothers and children allow the collection of biological material, and specific clinical and genetic information to determine the causal relationship between potential risk factors during the prenatal or postnatal period and the health status of the newborn up to childhood and potentially adulthood. I first used Prospective Pregnancy Cohort in Taipei (PPCT, 1984-87, n=15,729) in my PhD dissertation to investigated the effects of biological, occupational, and social factors on birth outcome. We then started to conduct longitudinal birth cohort follow-up studies to investigate the environment, genetics, and children’s health issues including Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS, 2005, n=21,248), Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS1, 2004-05, n=486), and Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS2, 2011-12, n=1,012). We also co-established the Birth Cohort Consortium of Asia (BiCCA, 2012-, 31 birth cohorts in 16 Asian countries, n=80,000) to investigate different environmental risks in Asian countries. To investigate the potential health effects of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs, endocrine disrupting chemicals, persistent organic pollutants) in adults, we also cooperated with hospital-based studies including Young Taiwanese Cardiovascular Cohort Study (YTCC, Dr. Ta-Chen Su, 2006-08, n=790), Genetic and Biomarkers Study for Childhood Asthma (GBCA, Dr. Yungling Lee, 2009-10; cases, n=231; controls, n=225), and NTUH Breast Cancer Case-control Study (Dr. Ching-Hung Lin, 2013-15; cases, n=120; control, n=119). (Academic Contributions: Please see Children’s Environmental Health Based on Birth Cohort Studies and Birth Cohort Consortium of Asia (BiCCA))
Finally, we used national health insurance databases to set up our population-based studies including HBV-infected patients (1997-2010, n=802,642), HCV-infected patients (1997-2010, n=223,467), and type 2 diabetic patients (1997-2010; male, n=430,377; female, n=431,956) in the studies of aristolochic acid related cancers and cancer chemoprevention. In order to understand the distribution and trend of environmental chemicals in human, we recently started to conduct nation-wide representative population-based surveys, Biomonitoring and Epidemiology Pilot Study in Taiwan (2019, n=1,584; 2000, n=1,748) to collect biological specimen such as blood and urine. We will measure persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, endocrine disrupting chemicals, volatile organic solvents, and pesticides in comparison with the databases of the International Biomonitoring Network. The final goal is to effectively assess and understand exposure and health effects to reduce or prevent adverse health effects of the population. (Academic Contributions: Please see Preventive Actions of Banning Herbal Medicine Containing Aristolochic Acid and Cancer Chemoprevention Based on Health Informatics Research)
Birth cohorts based on the recruitment and active follow-up of mothers and children allow the collection of biological material, and specific clinical and genetic information to determine the causal relationship between potential risk factors during the prenatal or postnatal period and the health status of the newborn up to childhood and potentially adulthood. I first used Prospective Pregnancy Cohort in Taipei (PPCT, 1984-87, n=15,729) in my PhD dissertation to investigated the effects of biological, occupational, and social factors on birth outcome. We then started to conduct longitudinal birth cohort follow-up studies to investigate the environment, genetics, and children’s health issues including Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS, 2005, n=21,248), Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS1, 2004-05, n=486), and Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS2, 2011-12, n=1,012). We also co-established the Birth Cohort Consortium of Asia (BiCCA, 2012-, 31 birth cohorts in 16 Asian countries, n=80,000) to investigate different environmental risks in Asian countries. To investigate the potential health effects of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs, endocrine disrupting chemicals, persistent organic pollutants) in adults, we also cooperated with hospital-based studies including Young Taiwanese Cardiovascular Cohort Study (YTCC, Dr. Ta-Chen Su, 2006-08, n=790), Genetic and Biomarkers Study for Childhood Asthma (GBCA, Dr. Yungling Lee, 2009-10; cases, n=231; controls, n=225), and NTUH Breast Cancer Case-control Study (Dr. Ching-Hung Lin, 2013-15; cases, n=120; control, n=119). (Academic Contributions: Please see Children’s Environmental Health Based on Birth Cohort Studies and Birth Cohort Consortium of Asia (BiCCA))
Finally, we used national health insurance databases to set up our population-based studies including HBV-infected patients (1997-2010, n=802,642), HCV-infected patients (1997-2010, n=223,467), and type 2 diabetic patients (1997-2010; male, n=430,377; female, n=431,956) in the studies of aristolochic acid related cancers and cancer chemoprevention. In order to understand the distribution and trend of environmental chemicals in human, we recently started to conduct nation-wide representative population-based surveys, Biomonitoring and Epidemiology Pilot Study in Taiwan (2019, n=1,584; 2000, n=1,748) to collect biological specimen such as blood and urine. We will measure persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, endocrine disrupting chemicals, volatile organic solvents, and pesticides in comparison with the databases of the International Biomonitoring Network. The final goal is to effectively assess and understand exposure and health effects to reduce or prevent adverse health effects of the population. (Academic Contributions: Please see Preventive Actions of Banning Herbal Medicine Containing Aristolochic Acid and Cancer Chemoprevention Based on Health Informatics Research)