Wenhui (Vivian) Zhang

BSN, PhD, MS

Assistant Professor, Research Track

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wenhui.zhang@emory.edu

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Currently Accepting PhD Students

About

Dr. Wenhui (Vivian) Zhang serves as an assistant research professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Her career goal is to optimiZe Health And aging For valUe (ZHANGFU, more happiness in Chinese). Dr. Wenhui (Vivian) Zhang earned her BSN from the Xiang-Ya Schools of Medicine and Nursing, Central South University, China. Together with her PhD in Nursing, she obtained an MS degree in Statistics (Department of Statistics and Data Science, College of Natural Sciences), a minor doctoral portfolio certificate in Aging and Health (Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts), and training around health information technology, and value-based care at the University of Texas at Austin. She then completed her postdoctoral training at the Center for Data Science, Emory University NWH School of Nursing. At Emory, she received further training in data science, geriatrics, clinical informatics, omics, and aging.

Areas of Expertise

Gerontology And Elder Health

Acute And Chronic Care

Data Science

Technology

Symptom Science

Mental Health

Neurocognitive Neuroscience

Health Disparities

Methods

Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/wenhui.zhang.2/bibliography/public/

Teaching

Dr. Zhang has been teaching PhD-level Health Outcomes Research (2021-2024) and Directed Study (2022), MN-level Evidence-Based Practice (2022), and MN-level Data Utilization in Nursing Practice (2022-2023) courses. She has mainly contributed to applied statistics and data science sections in nursing research and practice. She also consults for research and clinical projects with her transdisciplinary and integrated knowledge.

“My teaching philosophy aligns with my research on successful aging and self-regulation strategies of selection, optimization, and compensation, involving critical thinking in goal setting, methods, and support seeking. These benefit patients, care providers, researchers, and administrators in achieving value-based care. I have followed this philosophy in my training and when working with students.” Dr. Zhang has continuously learned and practiced communication and teaching skills and strategies. She has worked in courses for clinical simulation, nursing research, biology, statistics, and data science. She has been funded to launch a new elective course, "Culture, immigration and health outcomes.” She also serves as a mentor for students with diverse backgrounds and interests. She loves to hear about different opinions.

Research

Dr. Zhang has been funded to study empty-nest syndrome, expressive writing, mental health among students and immigrants, multimorbidity self-management, the associated social determinants, and delirium and dementia interrelationships. She recently proposed to develop decision support tools for nursing quality indicators, such as delirium. She is also studying multimorbidity phenotypes, trajectories, and omics.