Dongqing Wang, PhD, MPH

Dr. Dongqing Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health. Wang’s research focuses on the nutritional determinants of maternal, child, and adolescent health in low- and middle-income countries. A primary domain of Wang’s research is the distributions, determinants, and consequences of inadequate and excessive gestational weight gain in low- and middle-income countries. Wang's research addresses knowledge gaps related to gestational weight gain by pooling individual participant data from national surveys, observational cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials. Another key area of Wang’s work is the impacts of maternal nutrient and food supplementation on the short- and long-term health of mothers and children. Wang is also interested in adolescent nutrition and school-based interventions to address the double burden of adolescent malnutrition. Wang is the Co-Investigator of several randomized controlled trials of nutritional interventions among mothers, children, and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. Before coming to Mason, Wang was a Research Associate in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Research 

Selected Publications 

• Wang D, Shahab-Ferdows S, Lweno ON, Hampel D, Method B, Yelverton CA, Nguyen CH*, Aboud S, Allen LH, Fawzi WW. The effects of prenatal and postnatal high-dose vitamin B-12 supplementation on human milk vitamin B-12: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in Tanzania. Am J Clin Nutr. In Press.

• Perumal N, Wang D, Darling AM, Liu E, Wang M, Ahmed T, Christian P, Dewey KG, Kac G, Kennedy SH, Subramoney V, Briggs B, Fawzi WW, members of the GWG Pooling Project Consortium. Suboptimal gestational weight gain and neonatal outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: an individual-level participant meta-analysis. BMJ. In Press.

• Darling AM, Wang D, Perumal N, Liu E, Wang M, Ahmed T, Christian P, Dewey KG, Kac G, Kennedy SH, Subramoney V, Briggs B, Fawzi WW; members of the GWG Pooling Project Consortium. Risk factors for inadequate and excessive gestational weight gain in 25 low- and middle-income countries: An individual-level participant meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 2023 Jul 24;20(7):e1004236. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004236. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37486938.

• Wang D, Adedokun OA, Millogo O, Madzorera I, Hemler EC, Workneh F, Mapendo F, Lankoande B, Ismail A, Chukwu A, Assefa N, Abubakari SW, Lyatuu I, Okpara D, Abdullahi YY, Zabre P, Vuai S, Soura AB, Smith ER, Sie A, Oduola AMJ, Killewo J, Berhane Y, Baernighausen T, Asante KP, Raji T, Mwanyika-Sando M, Fawzi WW. The Continued Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Education and Mental Health Among Sub-Saharan African Adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2023 Apr;72(4):535-543. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.11.012. Epub 2022 Nov 28. PMID: 36635187; PMCID: PMC9701646.

• Wang D, Shinde S, Drysdale R, Vandormael A, Tadesse AW, Sherfi H, Tinkasimile A, Mwanyika-Sando M, Moshabela M, Bärnighausen T, Sharma D, Fawzi WW. Access to digital media and devices among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: A multicountry, school-based survey. Matern Child Nutr. 2023 Apr 4:e13462. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13462. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37014184.

• Liu E, Wang D, Darling AM, Perumal N, Wang M, Ahmed T, Christian P, Dewey KG, Kac G, Kennedy S, Subramoney V, Briggs B, Fawzi WW. Effects of prenatal nutritional supplements on gestational weight gain in low- and middle-income countries: a meta-analysis of individual participant data. Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 Dec 19;116(6):1864-1876. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqac259. PMID: 36130877.

• Wang D, Chukwu A, Mwanyika-Sando M, Abubakari SW, Assefa N, Madzorera I, Hemler EC, Ismail A, Lankoande B, Mapendo F, Millogo O, Workneh F, Azemraw T, Febir LG, James C, Tinkasimile A, Asante KP, Baernighausen T, Berhane Y, Killewo J, Oduola AMJ, Sie A, Smith ER, Soura AB, Raji T, Vuai S, Fawzi WW. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its determinants among sub-Saharan African adolescents. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2022;2(10):e0000611. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000611. eCollection 2022. PMID: 36962540; PMCID: PMC10022111.

• Wang D, Darling AM, McDonald CR, Perumal N, Liu E, Wang M, Aboud S, Urassa W, Conroy AL, Hayford KT, Liles WC, Kain KC, Fawzi WW. Plasma concentrations of leptin at mid-pregnancy are associated with gestational weight gain among pregnant women in Tanzania: a prospective cohort study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2021 Oct 6;21(1):675. doi: 10.1186/s12884-021-04146-0. PMID: 34615489; PMCID: PMC8495974.

• Wang D, Schwinger C, Urassa W, Berhane Y, Strand TA, Fawzi WW. Comparing Attained Weight and Weight Velocity during the First 6 Months in Predicting Child Undernutrition and Mortality. J Nutr. 2022 Jan 11;152(1):319-330. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxab338. PMID: 34549299; PMCID: PMC8754579.

• Wang D, Shinde S, Young T, Fawzi WW. Impacts of school feeding on educational and health outcomes of school-age children and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Glob Health. 2021;11:04051. doi: 10.7189/jogh.11.04051. eCollection 2021. PMID: 34552720; PMCID: PMC8442580.

Awards

• Emerging Leader in Nutrition Science, American Society for Nutrition, 2021

Affiliations

• Member, Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research
• Member, International Epidemiological Association
• Member, American Society for Nutrition
• Member, American College of Epidemiology
• Member, Society for Epidemiologic Research

Degrees

• PhD, Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 2019
• MPH, Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 2016
• MBBS, Clinical Medicine, Peking University, 2014