Hui Zheng is a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. Previously, he was a professor at The Ohio State University and the University of Hong Kong, where he served as Executive Director of the Research Hub of Population Studies. His research focuses on understanding the causes, heterogeneity, inequality, and trends in population health and aging, and on developing statistical and demographic methods to interrogate the sociological, demographic, epidemiological and biological utility of various theories and conceptualizations of health and mortality. It encompasses two interconnected areas: social and policy determinants of health, and population process of aging and mortality. He has studied the impact of social structures and institutions—such as income inequality, medical expansion, work environment, and the marriage market—on health outcomes; trends in health disparities; heterogeneity in aging and mortality; the life course effects of obesity; and the role of selection in health production and aging.
His current projects address rising health challenges in the U.S., and nativity disparities in labor market outcomes, aging, and health. His work has been supported by the U.S. CDC and NIH, published in leading journals including American Sociological Review, Demography, American Journal of Epidemiology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science and Medicine, and PNAS, and covered by media outlets such as Time, The New York Times, The Atlantic, USA Today, Newsweek, and The Times (UK). He has received publication awards from ASA and IPUMS. He currently serves as a Deputy Editor of Demography.