Donghai Liang, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology. He leads the Environmental Metabolomics and Exposomics Research Group at Emory (EMERGE), serves as Lead of the Exposome Research Accelerator at Rollins, and is Director of the Exposomics Cancer Research Incubator. He is also a center investigator in the Emory HERCULES Exposome Research Center and the Winship Cancer Institute.
Dr. Liang is an exposure scientist and molecular epidemiologist whose research focuses on characterizing the human exposome and elucidating the molecular mechanisms linking complex environmental exposures to disease. His work integrates advanced exposure assessment, high-resolution metabolomics, and multi-omics approaches to investigate how ubiquitous environmental pollutants, including air pollution, PFAS, phenols, phthalates, flame retardants, heat, tobacco smoke, and other chemical mixtures, affect human health across the life course. His research spans maternal and child health, birth outcomes, cancer, cardiometabolic disease, neurodevelopment, and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
A major focus of Dr. Liang’s laboratory is to connect external environmental exposures with internal biological responses. Through EMERGE, his group applies high-resolution exposomics, metabolomics, and multi-omics integration to identify exposure biomarkers, characterize metabolic perturbations, and uncover biological pathways underlying environmentally driven disease. This work has been particularly impactful in pregnancy and early-life studies, including research in the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child Cohort and ECHO cohorts, where his team investigates how prenatal exposures to air pollution and chemical mixtures contribute to preterm birth, fetal growth, child neurodevelopment, and environmental health disparities.
Dr. Liang’s current research program also extends exposomics into cancer and neurodegenerative disease. In cancer, his group uses metabolomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and large prospective cohort resources to examine how air pollution and other environmental exposures influence cancer risk and related molecular pathways. In Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, he co-leads NIH-funded studies integrating exposomic profiling with blood, brain, and multi-tissue omics data to identify mechanisms linking environmental toxicants to neurodegeneration. Across these areas, his research advances exposomics as a translational framework for discovering exposure-disease relationships and informing prevention strategies.
Dr. Liang has published more than 135 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has received multiple NIH grants as PI or MPI, including major awards from NIEHS and NIA. He has held several national and international leadership roles, including Secretary of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Exposure Science, Executive Committee Member of the Consortium of Metabolomics Studies, and Chair of the ISES Nomination Committee. His honors include the Joan M. Daisey Outstanding Young Scientist Award from ISES, the Rollins School of Public Health Foundations Research Excellence Award, the Rollins Early Career Research Excellence Award, and the NIEHS Paper of the Year.
Fun Fact:
Dr. Liang loves exploring the world beyond the lab. An avid traveler and hiker, he has visited six continents, hiked in more than 30 U.S. national parks, and spent a week backpacking Patagonia’s W Trek with his wife.