Yuan Ma
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Departments
Department of Epidemiology
Department of Nutrition
Other Positions
Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Nutrition
Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Biography
Dr. Ma is an epidemiologist with training in preventive medicine, cardiovascular epidemiology, and aging epidemiology. She directs the Epidemiology of Aging Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). The program’s mission is to slow brain aging and promote healthy aging through collaborative research and by training the next generation of scholars in population aging. She also teaches the Epidemiology of Aging courses, EPI254 and EPI264.
Dr. Ma’s research focuses on the intersection of cardiovascular and brain health. Through multidisciplinary, team-science collaborations, her group integrates causal inference, neuroimaging, neuropathology, geroscience, and neuroscience to understand and prevent age-related diseases. With support from NIH R01 grants and other sources, she leads studies of precision blood-pressure control, cerebral hemodynamics, and brain health in cohort studies and clinical trials. She also leads a large-scale investigation of clonal hematopoiesis and age-related diseases in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
Dr. Ma is committed to mentoring students and early-career investigators in epidemiology, aging, and brain health. She received the SM2 Program Best Thesis Mentor Award in 2023 and the HSPH Mentor Award in 2026.
Selected Publications:
Zhang Y, Hughes TM, Zhang W, Glodzik L, Dolui S, Goulart TO, Nation DA, Mahar AR, Norling AM, Lipsitz LA, Mittleman MA, Ma Y. Cerebral perfusion features linking subclinical cardiac and aortic dysfunction to vascular brain injury. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2026;22(8):e71756
Zhang W, Cai W, Zhang Y, Hofman A, Viswanathan A, van Veluw SJ, Blacker D, Das S, Ma Y. Compression of Cognitive Decline and Cognitive Resilience in Extreme Longevity. Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2025;21:e70683.
Ma Y, He FJ, Sun Q, Yuan C, Kieneker LM, Curhan GC, MacGregor GA, Bakker SJL, Campbell NRC, Wang M, Rimm EB, Manson JE, Willett WC, Hofman A, Gansevoort RT, Cook NR, Hu FB. 24-hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion and cardiovascular risk. N Engl J Med. 2022; 386:252-263.PMID: 34767706.
Ma Y, Zhou J, Kavousi M, Lipsitz LA, Raso FUSM, et al. Lower complexity and higher variability in systolic blood pressure are associated with elevated long-term risk of dementia: The Rotterdam Study. Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2020. PMID: 33860609.
