Pan, Shih-Chun潘士群

Assistant Research Fellow

Research Interests

My research focuses on environmental epidemiology, examining how environmental stressors—including air pollution, climate factors, and occupational exposures—affect health across the life course. I place particular emphasis on vulnerable populations, such as children, older adults, and pregnant women. By integrating advanced statistical methods with large-scale health databases and molecular biomarkers, I investigate both short- and long-term health effects and underlying biological mechanisms. My work adopts a multidisciplinary, life-course perspective to understand how environmental exposures influence metabolic and cardiometabolic health during critical developmental and aging windows. I further incorporate heterogeneous data analytics and real-time monitoring technologies to improve exposure assessment and identify early physiological responses. Through collaboration with the Multi-Country Multi-City Collaborative Research Network, I contribute Taiwan-based data to global climate and health research. Ultimately, my goal is to develop predictive indicators and mechanistic evidence that inform risk assessment, early prevention, and policy responses under a changing climate.

Representative Publications

Huang CC, Pan SC, Chen PC, Guo YL (2025, Jul). Taiwan population-based epigenetic clocks and their application to long-term air pollution exposure. Environ Res, 277:121542

Pan SC, Chin WS, Huang CC, Chen YC, Wu CD, Hsu CY, Lin P, Chen PC, Guo YL (2025, Jan). Proximity to petrochemical industry and risk of childhood asthma occurrence. Int J Hyg Environ Health, 264:114515.

Chen SJ, Pan SC, Wu CD, Li H, Guo YL, Lin CH (2024, Dec). Long-term exposure to multiple air pollutants and risk of Parkinson's disease: a population based multipollutant model study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 334825.

Highlights

Impact of Air Pollution Exposure on the Course of Diabetes
Our research is the first to systematically track the progress of diabetes from pregnancy to late-stage complications, revealing the significant impact of air pollution exposure on metabolic diseases. We found that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy not only significantly increases the risk of gestational diabetes, but also, after delivery, women who had gestational diabetes and continue to be exposed to polluted environments have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those without gestational diabetes, highlighting the synergistic effect of air pollution and gestational diabetes on diabetes occurrence. In addition, we also demonstrated for the first time that exposure to air pollution in diabetic patients accelerates the development of diabetic retinopathy. These findings not only deepen the academic understanding of the interaction between environmental factors and metabolic diseases but also provide key scientific evidence for protective strategies for pregnant women and high-risk populations with diabetes, underscoring the major social contribution of improving air quality to reduce the burden of chronic diseases.

Taiwan-Specific Epigenetic Age and Air Pollution
I am dedicated to developing epigenetic health models and have successfully constructed an epigenetic age estimation model applicable to the Taiwanese population, demonstrating that long-term PM2.5 exposure accelerates biological aging. By combining advanced multi-omics techniques such as DNA methylation with machine learning methods, we designed indicators that can quantify the impact of environmental exposures on physiological aging and chronic disease progression. We also found that individuals exposed to high concentrations of PM exhibit biological ages significantly older than their chronological ages. This study provides locally validated biomarkers, which help in the early detection of environmental health effects and support precision environmental epidemiology research.
 
  • Ph.D.
    Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,
    National Taiwan University, Taiwan (2020)
  • M.S.
    Depart. of Public Health,
    China Medical University, Taiwan (2011)
  • (02)2787-5939

  • scpan

研究人員登入