Jun Dai, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Master of Public Health Program

Additional Roles
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health
Associate Professor, Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences Program

515-271-1367 (Office Phone)
515-271-4280 (Fax)

Email Jun Dai

Areas of Expertise

Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Diabetes, Epigenetics (methylation, hydroxymethylation, miRNA), Molecular Epidemiology, Nutrition, Nutrition Epidemiology, Twin Study

About

Professional Organizations
American Heart Association
American Society for Nutrition

Service

Indiana University School of Public Health – Bloomington, IN

Core faculty, Developmental Committee, Doctoral program in Epidemiology	08/2010– 06/2012
Core faculty, Developmental Committee, the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics	10/2010 – 06/2012
Member, Biostatistics faculty search committee, Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health	08/2009-04/2011
Member, Epidemiology faculty search committee, School of Public Health	01/2011-03/2011
Member, Graduate Admission Committee, Doctoral program in Health Behavior, Department of Applied Health Science	10/2010 – 06/2012
Member, Graduate Admission Committee, MPH program, Department of Applied Health Science	09/2010 –06/2012
Member, Graduate Admission Committee, M.S. Nutrition Sciences Program, Department of Applied Health Science	08/2008 – 06/2012

Des Moines University, Des Moines IA

College of Health Sciences (CHS) Service

Member, University Grant Review Panel	2016-2017
Member, University Facility Committee	02/2017- 2018
Member, University Academic and Logistics Planning Team (ALPT)	2018
Chair, University Facility Committee	2019-present

Member, CHS Bylaw and Nomination Committee	2017- present
Department of Public Health (DPH) Service
Member, DPH Academic Progress Committee (APC)	2016- present
Member, DPH Evaluation Committee	2018- present
Other DPH Service
Review Master of Public Health (MPH) Graduate Application on the regular basis Participate in the faculty search and interview as needed Advise MPH students as their academic advisor on the regular basis	2016-present

China

Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Member, Graduate Admission Committee, Nutrition and Food Hygiene Master Program	1998 – 2003
Member, Graduate Advisor Committee, Nutrition and Food Hygiene Master Program (Co-advisor: six students in the Master degree program)	1998 – 2003
Member, Dissertation Committee, Nutrition and Food Hygiene Master Program, School of Public Health	2001-2003
Director of Graduate Studies, Nutrition and Food Hygiene Master Program, School of Public Health	2001-2003
Core faculty, Committee, Clinical Nutrition M.D. Training Program.	1995
Core faculty, Committee, Development and administration of department of clinical nutrition at the hospital	1992

Regional, National and International Service

Executive Secretary of Guangdong Nutrition Society, China| 1999-2003
My responsibility includes: directly reporting to the president of Guangdong Nutrition Society; organizing and arranging board meeting (33 members); communicating with board members; supervising financial management; developing and managing the database; writing and producing extensive society-running documents which covered the charter of the society and board-meeting efficient running issues; participating all aspects in conferences such as annual society conference (600-1000 attendants); and establishing and strengthening relationships with governments at local, provincial and national levels.

Editorial Board Member

Austin Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology (since 2014)
The Journal of Nutrition (2014 – 2018)

ad hoc Journal Reviewing

Diabetes Care (since 2007)
The Journal of Nutrition (since 2007)
Circulation (since 2008)
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (since 2010)
Congestive Heart Failure (since 2010)
Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases (since 2010)
Br J Nutrition (since 2010)
Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics (since 2010)
Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis (since 2010)
Journal of the American Dietetic Association (since 2010)
Archives of Medical Research (since 2011)

International Grant Reviewer

National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (since 2011)

National NIH Grant Reviewer

NHLBI Special Emphasis Panel ZHL1 CCT-S (C8) (2018)
NHLBI Special Emphasis Panel ZHL1 CCT-S (C10) (2018)

Moderator for International/National Conference

“Genetic Epidemiology Session”, 48^th Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention and Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Conference, Colorado Spring, Colorado, the US, Mar 11-15, 2008

Member of National Writing Group

“National Study Guides for Chinese Medical Professional Qualification Examination (Nutrition)” for nutritionist, dietitian, and physician with specialty in clinical nutrition at the intermediate and senior levels, Beijing, PR China, 2002

Other Service with Public Health Promotion Achievements (Selected)

TV Series
- The First Prize for the National Excellence in Television Educational Public Program at the 7^th National Television Educational Program Award Competition. “Nutrition during Pregnancy”. Maternal and Infant Nutrition by Dai J, He M, Mei J, Performance Hu Yan-Fen, Science and Life. Guangdong Television Station, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China, Oct 1996.
- Role: scripter, fund-raiser and co-organizer
- This TV series covered more than 20 million people, Dec 1996-present
Media Interview
- “Diet, disease and health”. Ask the Expert, by Dai J. Guangdong Business Radio, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China
- Covered 20 million people

Professional Development Activities

Faculty Training Program, the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) (Canada)	1991 – 1995
Chinese Medical Board Fellowship, the Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, funded by Chinese Medical Board (New York, the US)	2001 –2002
Visiting Scholar, Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore	2000
The 2nd advanced molecular medicine laboratory techniques, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China	2002
The 2nd short course on next-generation sequencing: Technology and Statistical Methods (Sponsored by National Human Genome Research Institute, US), University of Alabama-Birmingham, AL, the US	2012
The 15th Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Conference (APBC 2017), Shenzhen, China, Jan 15-18, 2017	2017

Education:
Ph.D., Nutrition and Health Sciences concentrating on Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
M.Sc., Nutrition and Food Hygiene concentrating on Clinical Nutrition Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China
M.D., Medicine with specialty in Clinical Nutrition, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China

Research

Dr. Dai uses various epidemiological approaches to understand environmental (such as nutritional, sociobehavioral, and other environmental), epigenetic and genetic etiology and the prognosis of cardiovascular disease and other chronic disease (such as diabetes and obesity) in the context of the life-span. These approaches include the cross-sectional study, the prospective follow-up study, the randomized controlled trial, and the animal experiment.

A long-standing research area of Dr. Dai is diet/nutrition and cardiovascular risk. She has investigated whole diet measured as dietary pattern or diet quality in relation to cardiovascular pathophysiology and outcomes. Dr. Dai is also interested in food components (i.e. nutrients and non-nutrient compounds) and food items/groups (including alcohol) in relation to health outcomes.

She uses a variety of biomarkers to investigate pathophysiological mechanisms including inflammation, oxidative stress, glucose and lipid homeostasis disturbance, cardiac autonomic dysfunction, and epigenetics. Her current research investigates genome-wide DNA epigenetic modifications and microRNAs as the novel biomarkers among twins and general populations. Dr. Dai has experiences to design studies and to analyze data using different advanced biostatistics modeling.

Research (US)

Extramural Fund

Pending

1R15HL152330-01 | Dai, Jun (PI) | 4/1/2020-3/31/2023 | NIH | ($486,0200 total)
Insulin-resistance diseases and hydroxymethylation | Role: PI

Completed

1R56HL133887-01 Dai, Jun (PI) | 2016-2018 | NIH/NHLBI | ($829,000 total)
miRNAs, Whole Diet, and Coronary Heart Disease | Role: PI
1R21HL127368-01 Dai, Jun (PI) | 2014-2016 | NIH/NHLBI | ($249,250 total)
Characterizing Life-Span Sociobehavioral Determinants of DNA (Hydroxy)Methylation | Role: PI
10SDG2630182 | Dai, Jun (PI) | 2010-2013 | American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant – National Center | ($308,000 total)
Mediterranean Diet, Biomarkers, Cardiovascular Death: the NHLBI Twin Study
The goal of this project was to investigate the prospective association of the Mediterranean diet with cardiovascular death risk and two pathophysiological pathways (inflammation and oxidative stress) towards cardiovascular disease in a genetically informative cohort: the NHLBI Twin Study. | Role: PI
0615123B | Dai, Jun (PI) | 2006-2008 | American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship | ($39,000 total)
Protective Mechanisms of the Mediterranean Diet on Cardiovascular Disease: A Twin Study.
The goal of this project was to investigate the cross-sectional association between the Mediterranean diet and the pathophysiological pathway towards cardiovascular disease. | Role: PI

Selected Submitted (Unfunded)

1R01HL133887-A1 Dai, Jun (PI) | 2019-2024 | NIH/NHLBI | ($2,633,950 total)
miRNAs, Whole Diet, and Coronary Heart Disease | Role: PI
1R01DK121952-A1 Dai, Jun (PI) | 2019-2024 | NIH/NIDDK | ($1,996,754 total)
Insulin-resistance diseases, hydroxymethylation and lifespan factors | Role: PI
1R01HL146527-A1 Dai, Jun (PI) | 2019-2024 | NIH/NHLBI | ($2,498,664 total)
Lifespan factors, hydroxymethylation and cardiovascular disease | Role: PI

Intramural Fund

Completed

VR8428.1 | Dai, Jun (PI) | 2013 | Vanderbilt University Medical Center VICTR fund | ($24, 910 Direct cost)
Pilot Study of DNA (hydroxy)methylation among identical twins discordant for cardiovascular disease
The goal of this project was to investigate differentially DNA (hydroxy)methylated levels among identical twins. | Role: PI
VR5567 | Dai, Jun (PI) | 2013 | Vanderbilt University Medical Center VICTR fund | ($16,461.00 Direct cost)
Illustrative Study of Long-Stored Plasma miRNA Profiling among Identical Twins: A Pilot Study
The goal of this project was to describe plasma miRNA expression levels among identical twins. | Role: PI
(VICTR fund at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was supported by CTSA award No. UL1TR000445 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institute of Health)
Dai, Jun (PI) | 2009-2012 | Intramural Funds Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University | ($15,000 total)
Computerized Expansion of Molecule-Level Dietary Dataset: the NHLBI Twin Study
The goal of this project is to develop a computer program to obtain intakes of dietary molecules important in CVD through joint use of existing food consumption information in the NHLBI Twin Study and the USDA nutrient database (SR 21). | Role: PI

Research (China)

Completed

Randomized Clinical Trials
522301118 | Dai, Jun (PI) | 1998-2000 | Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences Research Foundation
Optimal Dietary Fat Pattern to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease among Type 2 Diabetes (Registered at www.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00467168)
The goal of this randomized, parallel-controlled, clinical trial was to elucidate the influence of dietary fatty acid compositions on the metabolism of postprandial triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, which is a novel pathophysiologic pathway towards cardiovascular disease, in type 2 diabetic outpatients. The findings of this trial provided evidence on the identification of potential optimal dietary fatty acid composition in the prevention of cardiovascular disease among type 2 diabetic patients. | Role: PI

Longitudinal Studies on Maternal and Child Health
Multiple-PIs: Ho, Zhi-Qian Ho (PI, China); Anderson, D. Harvey (PI, Canada) | 1992-1996 | International Development Research Center of Canada, Canada
Infant Growth and Development Follow-up Study in Guangdong Province
The goal of this multi-center, prospective study was to elucidate the dietary etiology of differences in infant growth and development between urban and township–rural areas through following the newborn infant up to 24 months. | Role: Co-investigator

Intervention Studies on Maternal and Child Health
Multiple-PIs: Ho, Zhi-Qian (PI, China); Anderson, D. Harvey (PI, Canada) | 1992-1996 | International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC), Canada
Infant Growth and Development Intervention Study in Guangdong Province
The goal of the intervention study was to investigate the effects of nutrient-fortified cereal introduced to infants between 4 and 12 months of age on their growth and development in the township–rural area. | Role: Co-investigator

Animal Experiments
B2000011 | Dai, J (PI) | 2000-2002 | Science Foundation of Department of Public Health of Guangdong Province
Effect of Dietary Fatty Acid Ratios on Atherosclerosis in New-Zealand Rabbits
The goal of this project was to investigate the effect of dietary fatty acid ratios on the development of atherosclerosis in New-Zealand Rabbits on high fat diet, and whether postprandial and fasting plasma lipids/lipoproteins were the underlying mechanism. | Role: PI

Evaluation on Functions and Safety of Healthy Foods
Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator in several animal experiments/toxicological evaluation, funded from various industrial companies.

Publications and Presentations

Publications in peer-reviewed journals (selected in chronological order)

*Corresponding author, ** Co-first author

Manuscripts in progress (*Corresponding author)

Dai J*, Ferguson J. Association between genetic risk score for glucose hemostasis and coronary heart disease from electronic medical records and genotyping data in the hospital-based patient population

Selected book chapters

Dai J. Clinical nutrition support in otolaryngological trauma. In: Su Z-F, ed. Otolaryngological Trauma. 1^st ed. Beijing, PR China: People’s Medical Publishing House; 2004
Dai J. How to add weaning foods? In: What food will improve the health of infants and children?
Xi-An Publishing House. Xi-An, PR China. 1998

Invited Speaker (Selected)

“Mediterranean Diet, Biomarkers, Vascular and Neural Disease”, presented at the 7^th International Stroke Summit, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, July 8-11, 2011 (presented as Keynote speaker)
“Diet for Heart Disease Prevention and Treatment”. Presented at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American Society for Nutrition Joint Meeting on Nutrition 2010 “Therapeutic Diets for Cardiometabolic Disorders: What is the Evidence”?, Boston, MA, April 21, 2010.
“Introduction on the study of ‘Protective mechanisms of the Mediterranean diet: A Twin Study’”. Presented to the staff of Southeast American Heart Association and donors, Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, the US, March 2007
“Enteral and parenteral nutrition”. Presented to physicians, nutritionists, and dietitians at the Advanced Training Program in Clinical Nutrition, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China, 2002
“Nutritional therapy for infectious disease”. Presented to nutritional physicians, nutritionists and dietitians at the Advanced Training Program in Clinical Nutrition, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China, 2002

Abstracts and Presentations

Published peer-reviewed abstracts (in chronological order)

Peer-reviewed presentations

Oral Presentations

Moderated Poster Presentations

Dai J, Krasnow RE, Reed T. Usual Alcohol Consumption Is Inversely Associated With a 38-Year Coronary Heart Disease Death Risk Independent of Genes and Common Environment among Men. Final Program and Abstract of the 51th American Heart Association Scientific Session on Joint Conference on Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention; Nutrition, Metabolism, and Physical Activity. Mar 22-29, 2011, Atlanta, GA.

Honored Poster Presentations

Dai J, Krasnow RE, Reed T. Usual Alcohol Consumption Is Inversely Associated With a 38-Year Coronary Heart Disease Death Risk Independent of Genes and Common Environment among Men. The American Heart Association Scientific Session 2011. Fall 14-16, 2011, Orlando, FL (Honored as the best presentation at the AHA Specialty Conferences 2011).

Poster Presentations

Awards and Honors

2009 Winner – Sandra Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Disease or Hypertension Epidemiology. The 49^th Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. Palm Harbor, Florida, the US. 2009

2008 Winner – Jeremiah and Rose Stamler Research Award for New Investigators. The 48^th Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Colorado Spring, Colorado, the US. 2008 (Top 5 out of over 500 abstracts)

2007 Finalist – Jeremiah and Rose Stamler Research Award for New Investigators. The 47^th Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Orlando, Florida, the US. 2007 (Top 5 out of over 500 abstracts)

2003 Excellent Teacher Award, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

1990 Provincial Best Student Award, Guangdong, China

1985-1991 Best Student Award (every academic year), Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China