Faculty

Lijing Yan  —  Co-Director

Professor of Global Health, Duke Kunshan University

Chronic disease prevention and control, healthy aging, and innovation in translational health systems and implementation science.

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Lijing Yan is a Professor (with tenure) of Global Health and Head of Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases (NCDs) Research at the Global Health Research Center of DKU in China since July 2014. Previously, she was the Deputy Director of the George Institute for Global Health at Peking University Health Science Center. She has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Peking University, a Master of Public Health degree and a doctoral degree in Demography from the University of California, Berkeley. Her main research areas are chronic disease prevention and control, healthy aging, and innovation in translational health systems and implementation science. She is the Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on research grants totaling over $10 million USD. She has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers in journals including JAMA, Lancet, Circulation, and BMJ (Google Scholar h-index: 56).

 

Yucheng Jin  —  Co-Director

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Duke Kunshan University

Applied AI in mental health and creativity enhancement, human-centered AI design, and technology acceptance among older adults.

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Yucheng Jin is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Duke Kunshan University, having joined DKU in August 2024. His research focuses on applied artificial intelligence in mental health and creativity enhancement, with a particular emphasis on human-centered AI design and technology acceptance among older adult populations. He is also collaborating with Prof. Hu on projects at the intersection of AI and digital arts.

 

Keping Wu

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Duke Kunshan University

Anthropology of care, aging, mental health, and long-term care in contemporary China, with extensive fieldwork in Suzhou and Kunshan.

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Keping Wu is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University. Her research spans psychological anthropology, the anthropology of religion, and the anthropology of care, with a focus on aging, mental health, and long-term care in contemporary China. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Suzhou and Kunshan, including in urban resettlement communities adjacent to DKU’s campus. She brings in expertise in ethnographic research and human-centered approach to the use of AI technology in the care of aging population.

 

Rui Hu

Assistant Professor of Computation and Design, Duke Kunshan University

Artist and scholar working in computer graphics, moving image, and installation. He leads the design and production of the lab’s HUM Space exhibition.

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Rui Hu is an Assistant Professor of Computation and Design at Duke Kunshan University. As an artist and scholar, he works with computer graphics, moving images, installation, and game and virtual simulation technologies. His practice and research explore issues of time and temporality through the lenses of causation, prediction, decision, and language. He is the recipient of the Best Experimental Animation Award at the 60th Ann Arbor Film Festival and a Jury Special Mention at the 25FPS Festival Croatia. He will contribute to the AIHCHA Lab by leading the design and production of the lab’s HUM Space exhibition and by bringing an arts and design perspective to the lab’s interdisciplinary research agenda.

 

Daniel E. Weissglass

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Duke Kunshan University

Ethics of AI, health, and technology, joining philosophy with the cognitive sciences and emerging technologies.

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Daniel E. Weissglass is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Duke Kunshan University and an Associate Professor of the Practice at Duke University. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the City University of New York and bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and psychology from the College of Charleston. His research joins philosophy, the cognitive sciences, and emerging technologies, focusing on the ethics of AI, health, and technology. He has published on medical artificial intelligence and global health ethics and led DKU labs on the ethics of nudging and on values in health metrics. He will anchor the lab’s ethical and philosophical inquiry into human-centered AI for aging.

 Student Researcher

Ziyi (Thea) Xia  —  Student Researcher

MS in Global Health,  Duke University

Community-based intervention research on aging and chronic disease, qualitative methods, and AI-assisted care. She works across all three research programs.

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Ziyi Xia is a master’s student in Global Health at Duke University, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Food, Nutrition and Health from the University of British Columbia. She is a registered dietitian. She leads the CEEEC community intervention study at the DKU Global Health Research Center, a four-arm study with more than 450 older adults across 32 communities in Suzhou and Kunshan, and she helped to write and coordinate the founding proposal for the AIHCHA Lab across its five contributing disciplines. Her own research includes an AI-assisted art intervention for older adults living with multiple chronic conditions, funded by the Center for Contemporary China Studies, for which she led the focus group discussions and the qualitative analysis using the Behaviour Change Wheel and the COM-B model. She previously worked on medical datasets for large language models at MetaStar HealthTech. Within the lab she contributes study coordination, quantitative analysis, and qualitative fieldwork.