Skip to main content

Xuezheng Sun, MD, MSPH, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member and an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.



MD, MSPH, PhD
Assistant Professor

Area of interest

My expertise is in molecular epidemiology, with an emphasis on integration of high dimensional molecular and genomic data in population-based research. I have extensive experiences in omics database creation and management. Since 2014, I have been cleaning and analyzing Nanostring assay-based transcript data from ~3,000 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples of breast/prostate/bladder tumor/normal tissues. I have led database creation and management (including quality control, data preprocessing, sample categorization), and biomedical data analysis and interpretation. I have established a strong record in biomarker research by integrating traditional epidemiological data with high-throughput omics data and histological imaging/immunohistochemistry data. For more than five years, I have worked with molecular epidemiology data from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS, a study of breast cancer epidemiology and biology focused on understanding breast cancer disparities), and in previous work have performed molecular epidemiology research based on the Polish Women’s Breast Cancer Study (a large population-based study of the National Cancer Institute, aimed to elucidated novel biological pathways through which epidemiological risk factors affect the course of breast cancer), the Normal Breast Study (NBS, a unique biospecimen resource of normal tissue from women undergoing breast surgery at UNC Hospitals), the NCI Hong Kong Breast Cancer Study, and the African American Breast Cancer Epidemiology and Risk (AMBER) consortium of breast cancer disparities.

Awards and Honors

2018 IBM Junior Faculty Development Award
2015 Elected member of Delta Omega (Theta Chapter)
2013 Rebecca James Baker Scholarship, UNC Gillings Scholl of Global Public Health
2010 – 2011 University Cancer Research Fund, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
2008 SAS® Student Ambassadors Honorable Mention, SAS Global Forum
1997 – 2002 Outstanding Student Award, China Medical University

Find publications on PubMed

No profile image on file