Junshi Chen

Professor Junshi Chen completed his medical training and Diploma in Public Health at Beijing Medical College, followed by post-graduate training in pharmacology at the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. He is currently Research Professor at the China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment.  In 2006, he was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

For over 40 years Professor Chen has been involved in research in nutrition and food safety, including the role of iron fortification of soy sauce in controlling iron deficiency in anaemia (IDA) that has led to widespread use of iron fortified soy sauce in China. Since the 1980s, he has conducted a series of large epidemiological studies on diet, nutrition and chronic diseases involving 65 rural counties across China, in collaboration with Cornell University and University of Oxford. This research led to the publication of two bilingual monographs “Diet, lifestyle and mortality: Characteristics of 65 rural counties in China (1990)” and 'Mortality, biochemistry, diet and lifestyle in rural China: Geographic study of the characteristics of 69 counties in mainland China and 16 areas in Taiwan (2006)'. These studies not only helped strengthen the local research capacity and infrastructure, but also helped to establish long-term strategic research partnerships, particularly with CTSU, University of Oxford. These early collaborations were key in the development of the China Kadoorie Biobank, which Professor Chen has been actively involved in from the start as senior member of the steering committee.