Principal Investigator
Dr. Hui Shao
Dr. Hui Shao is an Associate Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University, with joint appointments in the Departments of Health Management and Policy and Family and Preventive Medicine. He previously served as a Steven M. Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness (PE) Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Diabetes Translation, and is a recipient of the 2020 CDC Health Economic Research Group Kaafee Billah Award.
Dr. Shao’s research expertise spans comparative effectiveness analysis, machine learning, and health economics. His work focuses on developing and applying AI and machine-learning methods to advance precision medicine and precision public health, particularly in diabetes, obesity, and multimorbidity. By leveraging modern AI analytics, his research transforms data from clinical trials and real-world sources into actionable insights that inform clinical and policy decisions.
To date, Dr. Shao has secured over $14 million in research funding from the NIH and CDC as Principal Investigator and has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including JAMA, The Lancet, and Annals of Internal Medicine. Notably, he has published 31 articles in Diabetes Care, the premier journal in the field of diabetes.
CO-Investigator
Mohammed K. Ali MD, MSc, MBA
Dr. Ali is the William H. Foege Distinguished Professor of Global Health, Co-Director of the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center, and a primary care physician at Emory University. From 2019 to 2026, he served as the Vice Chair for Research in Emory’s Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. His work covers the epidemiology, implementation, and health services aspects of diabetes and cardiovascular health. He served as a scientific advisor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over 2010-2025 and has contributed to expert groups and reports for the World Health Organization, World Bank, and International Diabetes Federation. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
About Our Center
Our center is a nationally recognized leader in data-driven diabetes research, specializing in the integration and analysis of large-scale electronic health record (EHR) datasets. With robust expertise in diabetes epidemiology, health disparities, and implementation science, we have contributed extensively to multi-institutional surveillance efforts such as DiCAYA. As a current awardee institution with access to both Emory Healthcare and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) EHRs, we bring substantial denominator coverage across youth and young adult populations in the Atlanta area. Our team has established pipelines for secure data curation, standardized OMOP-CDM conversion, and advanced analytics using both structured and unstructured EHR data. Building on our longstanding collaborations and data governance frameworks, we are uniquely positioned to lead the development of a sustainable, nationwide surveillance system for diabetes in younger populations.
