Current Postdocs

Jami Anderson
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Public Health Sciences
- Email: ajami@wustl.edu

Shih-Ting Huang
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Public Health Sciences
- Email: shih-ting@wustl.edu

Allison L’Hotta
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Public Health Sciences
- Email: alhotta@wustl.edu

Rubi Gonzales, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Public Health Sciences
Education
PhD, Health Psychology, University of Texas - El Paso, 2021
MA, Experimental Psychology, University of Texas - El Paso, 2019

Yunan Han, MD, MPHS
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Public Health Sciences
- Phone: (314) 747-3722
- Email: yunanhan@wustl.edu
EDUCATION
MPHS, Washington University School of Medicine, 2022
MD, China Medical University – China, 2016
RESEARCH
Dr. Han is an internal medical graduate who completed residency training in general surgery and worked in the Division of Breast Surgery at the First Hospital of China Medical University. Her research focuses on breast cancer risks and clinical outcomes. Her current research goals in breast cancer prevention aim to characterize determinants of mammography breast density and reduce disparities in breast cancer patients. Dr. Han is currently working with Drs. Graham Colditz and Ashley Housten on developing an academic and community practice collaborative care model for metastatic breast cancer care (Project ADAPT).
PUBLICATIONS
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1lk4hJhj6FD9cb/bibliography/public/

Mengmeng Ji, PhD, MS, MBBS
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Nephrology and Division of Public Health Sciences
- Email: j.mengmeng@wustl.edu
Education:
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021
MS, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019
MBBS, Kunming Medical University, 2016
Research Interests:
During her time at UIUC, Dr. Ji’s research interests focused on environmental determinants and health policies that impact weight-related behaviors and outcomes throughout the life course with an emphasis on vulnerable populations. As a postdoctoral research associate, Dr. Ji will work on treads and survival outcomes in the pancreas and kidney transplantation with Dr. Alhamad and Dr. Chang. She is also interested in the health and economic consequences of surgical treatments of obesity. Dr. Ji would develop research skills in health economics, including cost-effectiveness analysis and comparative study during her Postdoctoral program.
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mengmeng-Ji-2

Tuo Lan, MS, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Public Health Sciences
- Email: lantuo@wustl.edu
Education:
PhD, University of Iowa 2022
MPH, Washington University in St. Louis 2017
MS and BS, Sorbonne University 2014
Research Interests:
Dr. Lan’s areas of interest are diet and environmental exposure throughout the life course, and how they influence health and disease. Some examples of her work include how adolescent diet relates to later prostate cancer; how polychlorinated biphenyls exposure relates to diabetes. Dr. Lan’s research will focus on exploring the association between diet and chronic health conditions among childhood cancer survivors.

Thembekile Shato, PhD, MPH
P50 Postdoctoral Fellow, Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control
- Email: shato@wustl.edu
EDUCATION
PhD, St. Louis University, 2020
MPH, University of Cape Town, 2017
RESEARCH
Dr. Shato's research interests include intervention development and implementation science research focused on improving health seeking behavior, access to preventive healthcare, and sexual and reproductive health. She is also interested in the role of social and structural determinants in the uptake of evidence-based interventions for chronic disease prevention and to reduce health disparities among adolescents and women. Her dissertation focused on cervical cancer prevention using quantitative and qualitative participatory research methods to examine the utilization and provision of cervical cancer screening among multiple stakeholders in urban Zimbabwe.

Serena Xiong, PhD, MPH
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Division of Public Health Sciences
- Email: xiongs@wustl.edu
Education
Ph.D., University of Minnesota School of Public Health
M.P.H., University of Minnesota School of Public Health
B.A., St. Olaf College
Research
Dr. Serena Xiong is a cancer disparities, implementation science scholar. Her research interests are in dissemination and implementation science, cancer disparities, immigrant and minority health, health disparities/health equity, evaluation, e-health/mhealth, and health policies. She is a community researcher with the Somali, Latino, and Hmong Partnership for Health and Wellness (SoLaHmo), a community-based research group based in Minnesota. In this unique role, she has been consistently implementing culturally-responsive initiatives to address health inequities in Minnesota. Some of her contributions include developing culturally-appropriate Hmong lifestyle guidelines for health practitioners, optimizing communication strategies for reaching at-risk Somali, Latinx, and Hmong elders with timely COVID-19 information, and leading the design of a website to educate Hmong parents and teens about the HPV vaccine. She is a strong proponent of community-based participatory research and is passionate about advancing the literature and practices in how to democratize the research process between universities and marginalized communities.
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/serena.xiong.1/bibliography/public/