Dr Peter Ka Hung Chan
Senior Researcher in Environmental Epidemiology & Wellcome Career Development Fellow, Nuffield Department of Population Health
Dr Peter Ka Hung Chan is an experienced epidemiologist with research interests on understanding the health impacts of climate change, air pollution and tobacco, and on developing strategies to mitigate these impacts. For over ten years, he has led impactful research across air pollution, climate change, tobacco control and big data epidemiology, based primarily on the China Kadoorie Biobank and UK Biobank. He has served as a Senior Research Scientist for the Health Bureau of Hong Kong SAR Government, where he applied his academic expertise in promoting research translation, informing policy and developing funding strategies. He is now a Senior Researcher in Environmental Epidemiology supported by a Wellcome Career Development Award across the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford and School of Public Health, Imperial College London.
Academic profile
About
Dr Peter Ka Hung Chan is an experienced epidemiologist with research interests on understanding the health impacts of climate change, air pollution and tobacco, and on developing strategies to mitigate these impacts.
Supported by numerous competitive fellowships, Dr Ka Hung Chan's work has been highly cross-disciplinary and collaborative, bringing together local and international partners across exposure science, epidemiology, atmospheric science, engineering and architecture. He is now supported by a Wellcome Career Development Award (CDA) co-hosted at Oxford Population Health and the School of Public Health at Imperial College London. Through the award, Dr Ka Hung Chan will develop a programme of research aimed at improving the assessment of the health impacts of non-optimal temperature and climate change and informing evidence-based mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Dr Ka Hung Chan leads the Environmental Health research theme in the China Kadoorie Biobank Study Group and serves as a Consultant (Scientific Review) for the World Health Organization. Previously, Dr Ka Hung Chan served as a Research Fellow in Cellular Life and AI & Machine Learning at Reuben College, Oxford (2022-2024). He also worked as a Senior Research Scientist at the Health Bureau of Hong Kong in 2024-2026, where he applied his academic expertise and contributed to evidence-based policy, research translation and research funding strategy development.
Expertise
- Climate change
- Temperature
- Air pollution
- Tobacco smoking
- Housing and environmental health
- Global health
- Epidemiology
Selected publications
- Associations of 6600 SomaScan proteins with demographic, lifestyle, environmental and health characteristics in Chinese adults (2026)
- Aggravated Risks of Emergency Hospitalizations Associated with Temperature amid Elevated Ambient Air Pollution: Evidence from a 20-Year Time-Series Study in Hong Kong (2025)
- International collaboration in cohort studies in China: opportunities and challenges (2025)
- The risk of hospitalization associated with hot nights and excess nighttime heat in a subtropical metropolis: a time-series study in Hong Kong, 2000–2019 (2024)
- Associations of long-term nitrogen dioxide exposure with a wide spectrum of diseases: a prospective cohort study of 0·5 million Chinese adults (2024)
- Modelling personal temperature exposure using household and outdoor temperature and questionnaire data: Implications for epidemiological studies (2024)
- Tobacco smoking and risks of more than 470 diseases in China: a prospective cohort study (2022)
- Solid Fuel Use and Risks of Respiratory Diseases. A Cohort Study of 280,000 Chinese Never-Smokers (2019)
Media experience
Dr Peter Ka Hung Chan has extensive media experience working with both academic and public media in providing expert opinion on a range of emerging public health issues, including climate change and extreme temperature, indoor and outdoor air pollution, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He has undertaken media interviews via written correspondence or live interviews with BBC News, The Guardian, The Times and AFP in the UK and other major media outlets elsewhere (e.g. ABC News, Australia).
Recent media work
Languages
English; Mandarin Chinese; Cantonese