Bowen Liu
BSc, MPhil
DPhil Student
Bowen joined the Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU), the Cancer Epidemiology Unit (CEU) and Wolfson College as a DPhil student in 2021. His research project aims to investigate the causal associations and genetic links between type II diabetes and blood glucose with different types of cancer across populations. His research is supervised by Professor Gillian Reeves and Professor Zhengming Chen, and is supported by a Cancer Research UK scholarship.
Prior to Oxford Population Health, Bowen worked as a research assistant at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care (Dr Stephen Burgess Unit), Cambridge, after completing his MPhil Epidemiology degree at Cambridge. There, he gained extensive training in genetic epidemiology and Mendelian randomisation (MR).
His research focussed on assessing and disentangling the causal relationships of cardiovascular risk factors using genetic variants and both linear and non-linear MR methods. In 2018, Bowen completed his Bachelor of Science degree (with distinction) in pharmacology at University of Alberta, Canada, where his understanding of pathophysiology and practical skills in biomedical research were developed. He was also trained in pharmacokinetics characterisation and drug development during his undergraduate research.
Bowen’s research interests lie in using epidemiological and genetic approaches to assess the correlations and causal links between risk factors and chronic diseases. He also holds a strong interest in integrating -omics data for the identification of biological pathways and potential drug targets. He aims to improve the understanding of disease aetiology and pathophysiology and contribute to disease prevention and drug development through his research.