Rate My Professor Yan Sun

Yan Sun is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, with joint appointments as Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health and in the Department of Medicine (Cardiology), School of Medicine, since 2024. He earned his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2001 and MS in Computer Science in 2003 from Wayne State University, and a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1996 from Peking University. Before joining Emory as Assistant Professor in 2011, Sun served as Assistant Research Scientist and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health from 2007 to 2011, Senior Research Associate there from 2004 to 2007, and Research Associate in Bioinformatics and Toxicogenomics at Michigan State University from 2002 to 2004. He was promoted to Associate Professor at Emory in 2017 and full Professor in 2022. Since 2017, he has directed the Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology (GME) Certificate Program at Rollins School of Public Health and has been a Health Science Research Specialist at the Atlanta VA Health Care System since 2021.

Sun’s research centers on genetic epidemiology, epigenetics, multi-omics integration, bioinformatics, and machine learning applications to study cardio-metabolic diseases, infectious diseases, HIV progression, and aging in multi-ethnic populations. His work develops novel study designs to identify molecular markers, elucidate disease mechanisms, and support biobank-based precision medicine. Notable publications include “Polygenic prediction of body mass index and obesity through the life course and across ancestries” (Nature Medicine, 2025), “Genome-wide analysis of heart failure yields insights into disease heterogeneity and enables prognostic prediction in the Japanese population” (Nature Communications, 2025), “Large-Scale Proteomics-Based Risk Score for the Prediction of Incident Cardio-Kidney-Metabolic Disease Risk” (Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine, 2025), “Integration of Multi-omic Data to Enhance the Discovery and Functional Studies of Complex Human Diseases” (Advances in Genetics, 2016), and “Epigenome-wide epidemiologic studies of human immunodeficiency virus infection, treatment, and disease progression” (Clinical Epigenetics, 2022). His scholarship has garnered over 26,500 citations on Google Scholar. Sun has contributed as guest editor for special issues in Human Genetics (2012) and PLoS Genetics, and served on committees such as Chair of the RSPH Computation and Data Science Advisory Group (2024-present), Emory AI Infrastructure Faculty Advisory Committee (2022-present), and International Genetic Epidemiology Society Education Committee (2015-present). He received the ASBMB/PABMB Graduate/Postdoctoral Travel Award in 1999 and HGV 2012 Travel Award.