Zhiwei Liu

I lead and support epidemiologic and real-world evidence strategies across vaccines and infectious diseases, including EBV, CMV, RSV, HPV, pneumococcal disease, and influenza. My work focuses on generating actionable evidence to inform product development, safety evaluation, regulatory decision-making, and post-licensure evidence planning. I design and lead observational studies using large-scale real-world data sources, including administrative claims, electronic health records, disease registries, surveillance systems, and population-based cohorts. I also lead cross-functional teams and working groups to align epidemiologic evidence generation with clinical development, regulatory strategy, safety assessment, outcomes research, and commercial needs. Through these collaborations, I help translate complex epidemiologic, clinical, and biomarker evidence into strategic recommendations for product development and public health impact. I apply rigorous epidemiologic methods to address key scientific and strategic questions, including disease burden, target population characterization, clinical trial feasibility, endpoint selection, biomarker evaluation, safety signal assessment, and evidence generation planning. I provide scientific consultation on infectious disease epidemiology, vaccine-preventable disease burden, EBV-related disease, biomarker validation, genetic epidemiology, and oncology-related outcomes. I communicate findings through internal strategy discussions, technical reports, scientific presentations, advisory discussions, and peer-reviewed publications.

Led an independent research program in viral oncology, immunoepidemiology, biomarker discovery, and cancer risk prediction, with a focus on EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma, EBV-related lymphomas, HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma, and other infection-related cancers. Designed and led prospective cohort, nested case-control, registry-based, and molecular epidemiology studies across international populations, with extensive experience in study design, field implementation, recruitment, biospecimen collection, data quality control, statistical analysis, and manuscript development. Built and managed collaborations with academic investigators, clinicians, laboratories, and public health partners across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Advanced EBV-focused biomarker discovery and clinical translation, including antibody-based risk prediction, EBV serology screening, molecular triage strategies, genetic epidemiology, viral genomics, and population-based cancer screening. My work helped connect molecular and immunologic discovery with practical applications for early detection, risk stratification, and cancer prevention. Applied large-scale epidemiologic data sources, including cancer registries, electronic health records, population-based cohorts, and linked health databases, to evaluate cancer burden, disease etiology, screening performance, survival outcomes, and health impact. Conducted analyses using advanced epidemiologic and statistical methods, including R, SAS, STATA, and Python. Secured competitive research funding, mentored postdoctoral fellows and trainees, delivered invited scientific presentations, and published high-impact studies in cancer epidemiology, infectious diseases, immunology, biomarker discovery, and public health.

My research focused on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) both in Southern China and Sweden. In southern China, where this malignancy is endemic, we conducted a population-based case-control study, which aims to elucidate the interactions of genetic susceptibility, environmental exposures, and viral infection (with Epstein-Barr virus) in the development of NPC. I was also involved in identifying early detection markers of NPC. In Sweden, where this malignancy is non-endemic, we conducted a nested case-control design based on the Swedish Multi-Generation Register to investigate whether early exposure, namely maternal age, birth order and sibship size, are associated with NPC risk.

Field work organization, data collection, and database management.