Rate My Professor Lina Mu

Lina Mu, PhD, MD, is Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health and Director of the Office of Global Health Initiatives in the School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University at Buffalo. She joined the department in June 2008 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in August 2013. Previously, she served as an AACR Scholar in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine from 2006 to 2008. Mu earned her MD from Shanxi Medical University in Shanxi, China, in 1995, and her PhD in Epidemiology and Health Statistics from Fudan University, P.R. China, in 2002. She also held fellowships at the Unit of Descriptive Epidemiology, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France (2002-2003), and the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (2001).

Her research specializations include assessing air pollution exposure and associated health outcomes, along with the underlying biological mechanisms; examining lifestyle factors, gene-environment interactions, and cancer etiology, survival, and prevention; and using a life-course approach to investigate the role of environmental and social exposures on child development and human health. Key publications encompass "Association of prenatal exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 with gestational diabetes in Western New York" (Environmental Research, 2023), "Indoor air pollution exposure and early childhood development in the Upstate KIDS Study" (Environmental Research, 2023), "Adverse pregnancy outcomes and risk of type 2 diabetes in postmenopausal women" (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2023), "Disparities in insecurity, social support, and family relationships in association with poor mental health among US adults during the COVID-19 pandemic" (Scientific Reports, 2023), "Alcohol Consumption and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic" (Alcohol and Alcoholism, 2023), and "Metabolomics profiling before, during, and after the Beijing Olympics: A panel study of within-individual differences during periods of high and low air pollution" (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2019). Mu leads NIH-funded studies on socio-economic, racial, and ethnic health disparities in children's early development and clinical trials on postpartum hypertension. She has received UB RENEW Institute seed grants for air pollution research and a School of Public Health and Health Professions faculty award for outstanding dedication and service in 2024.