Yuni Choi, PhD

  • Associate Research Scientist
Profile Headshot

Profile Navigation

Overview

Yuni Choi, PhD, is a chronic disease and nutritional epidemiologist. Throughout her research career, she has demonstrated expertise and dedication in chronic disease epidemiology, focusing on understanding cardiometabolic, dietary, and lifestyle factors for the prevention of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions.

She is the first author of 23 and coauthor of 20 peer-reviewed papers, including one published in Diabetes Care on dietary patterns and diabetes risk. Dr. Choi has also been recognized with distinction, receiving two research grants from the University of Minnesota and being a finalist for the Nutrition Translation Award (2021) and the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Competition three years in a row (2019–2021) at the American Society for Nutrition Annual Meeting.

Dr. Choi received her PhD in Nutrition with a minor in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2021. Afterward, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota (2021-23). Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as a researcher at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital and Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea (2012-16), where she was involved in and coordinated the Kangbuk Samsung Health Study, a large health screening center-based cohort study that included over 300,000 healthy young and middle-aged Korean adults, as well as Korean NIH-funded women's health studies.

Since joining the Division of General Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) as an Associate Research Scientist in 2023, Dr. Choi has been actively involved in the NHLBI Pooled Cohorts Study and the Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R), leading her research on chronic respiratory diseases and COVID-19 illness, with a special emphasis on cardiometabolic and inflammatory risks.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Research Scientist

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • PhD, Nutrition (minor Epidemiology), University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
  • Fellowship: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Committees, Societies, Councils

  • American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
  • American Thoracic Society
  • American Society for Nutrition

Honors & Awards

2021 Finalist in the Nutrition Translation Award Competition (Topical Area: Nutritional Epidemiology), American Society for Nutrition

2021 Finalist in the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science (Topical Area: Nutritional Epidemiology), American Society for Nutrition

2020 Finalist in the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science (Topical Area: Nutritional Epidemiology), American Society for Nutrition

2019 Finalist in the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition and

First-Place Grand Prize Winner (Topical Area: Nutritional Epidemiology), American Society for Nutrition

Research

Selected Publications

  1. Choi Y, Jacobs DR, Kramer H, Shroff GR, Chang AR, Duprez DA. Racial differences and contributory cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular risk factors towards chronic kidney disease progression. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2023; 19:433-445.
  2. Choi Y, Jacobs DR, Kramer HJ, Shroff GR, Chang AR, Duprez DA. Non-traditional Risk Factors for Progression through Chronic Kidney Disease Risk Categories: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. Am J Med. 2022;S0002-9343:00887-7.
  3. Choi Y, Jacobs DR, Banks MP, Lewis CE, Cha E, Yan F, Carnethon MR, Schreiner PJ, Duprez DA. Association of Cardiovascular Health Scores with early-and later-onset of diabetes and with vascular complications following diabetes development. J Am Heart Assoc. 2022;e027558.
  4. Choi Y, Nagel EM, Kharoud H, Johnson KE, Gallagher T, Duncan K, Kharbanda EO, Fields DA, Gale CA, Jacobs K, Jacobs DR Jr, Demerath EW. Gestational diabetes mellitus is associated with differences in human milk hormone and cytokine concentrations in a fully breastfeeding United States cohort. Nutrients. 2022;14:667.
  5. Choi Y, Steffen LM, Chu H, Duprez DA, Gallaher DD, Shikany JM, Schreiner PJ, Shroff GR, Jacobs DR. A plant-centered diet and markers of early chronic kidney disease during young to middle adulthood: Findings from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Cohort. J Nutr. 2021;151:2721-2730.
  6. Choi Y, Larson N, Gallaher DD, Odegaard AO, Rana JS, Shikany JM, Steffen LM, Jacobs DR Jr. A shift toward a plant-centered diet from young to middle adulthood and subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes and weight gain: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. Diabetes Care. 2020;43:2796-2803.
  7. Choi Y, Chang Y, Ryu S, Cho J, Kim MK, Ahn Y, Lee JE, Sung E, Kim B, Ahn J, Kim CW, Rampal S, Zhao D, Zhang Y, Pastor-Barriuso R, Lima JA, Chung EC, Shin H, Guallar E. Relation of dietary glycemic index and glycemic load to coronary artery calcium in asymptomatic Korean adults. Am J Cardiol. 2015;116:520-6.
  8. Choi Y, Park B, Jeong BC, Seo SI, Jeon SS, Choi HY, Adami HO, Lee JE, Lee HM. Body mass index and survival in patients with renal cell carcinoma: a clinical-based cohort and meta-analysis. Int J Cancer. 2013;132:625-34.

For a complete list of publications, please visit: PubMed.gov

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/yuni.choi.1/collections/63689260/public/

For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov