Faculty Profile

Dr. Perng is a nutritional epidemiologist who focuses on maternal and child health. Her research interests fall under three lines of inquiry: (1) elucidating early-life determinants of childhood obesity and related metabolic sequelae; (2) identifying biological pathways that underlie excess weight gain during early life; and (3) understanding how maternal condition during the peripartum period predict her future cardiovascular and metabolic health. Dr. Perng conducts her investigations primarily in Project Viva, a Boston-area pre-birth cohort, the Early Life Exposure in Mexico to ENvironmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) cohort, a birth cohort in Mexico City.

• B.S. in Brain Behavior & Cognitive Science, University of Michigan, 2008
• MPH in Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 2010
• PhD in Epidemiological Science, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 2012

• Perng W, Hivert MF, Watkins SM, Newgard CS, Kenny LC, Kristal BS, Patti ME, Isganaitis E, DeMeo DL, Oken E, and Gillman MW (2015). Review: Metabolomics in the developmental origins of obesity and its cardiometabolic consequences. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease; In press.
  
  
• Perng W, Stuart J, Rifas-Shiman SL, Stuebe A, Rich-Edwards JW, Oken E. Preterm birth and long-term maternal cardiovascular health (2015). Annals of Epidemiology; 25(1):40-5
  
  
• Perng W, Gillman MW, Fleisch AF, Michalek R, Watkins SM, Isgaiatis E, Patti ME, Oken E. Metabolomic profiles and childhood obesity (2014). Obesity (Silver Spring); 22(12):2570-2578.
  
  
• Perng W, Gillman MW, Mantzoros CS, Oken E. Associations of maternal weight status and offspring cardiometabolic health during mid-childhood (2014). Annals of Epidemiology; 24(11):793-800.
  
  
• Perng W, Rifas-Shiman SL, Rich-Edwards JW, Stuebe A, Oken E. Inflammation and weight gain in reproductive-aged women (2014). Annals of Human Biology; Epub ahead of print.
  
  
• Perng W, Villamor E, Marin C, Mora-Plazas M, Baylin A. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) are inversely related to development of adiposity in Colombian schoolchildren (2014). European Journal of Clinical Nutrition; Epub ahead of print.
  
  
• Walter JR, Perng W, Kleinman KP, Rich-Edwards JW, Oken E. Early gestational weight gain is associated with weight change, waist circumference, and systolic blood pressure in a large cohort (2015). Obstetrics & Gynecology; Epub ahead of print.
  
  
• Perng W, Villamor E, Shroff M, Pilsner JR, Liu Y, Diez-Roux, AV. Methyl-donor nutrient intake, total plasma homocysteine and global DNA methylation: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (2014). Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Disease; 24(6):614-622.
  
  
• Perng W, Mora-Plazas M, Marin C, Baylin A, Villamor E (2013).  Global DNA methylation and development of adiposity in school-age children. PLoS One; 8(4):e62587.
  
  
• Perng W, Mora-Plazas M, Marin C, Villamor E.  Higher iron status is related to slower linear growth in iron-replete school-age children (2013). European Journal of Clinical Nutrition; 67(6):646-651.

For a full list: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/collections/bibliography/45210848/ (sign-in required)

• American Society for Nutrition (ASN)        
• Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER)
• Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research (SPER)
• International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)
• American Public Health Association (APHA)
• The Obesity Society (TOS)