Upon completing her fellowship, Wang began working at Boston Medical Center as an assistant professor of pediatrics.[1] In 1998, she established the Boston Birth Cohort study of preterm birth and its consequences. The study became one of the largest and longest-prospective birth cohorts of urban, low-income, minority women and their children in the United States.[3] Wang's research showed that preterm babies were more prone to elevated insulin levels at birth that persisted into childhood, suggesting that preterm babies may be at future risk of type 2 diabetes.[4] She also established two other large study cohorts; the Chicago Family-based Cohort and the Chinese Twin Cohort.[2]
In 2003, Wang joined the Children's Memorial Institute for Education and Research as director of the Mary Ann and J. Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program.[5] She eventually returned to her alma mater, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and became the director of the Center on the Childhood Origins of Disease. While serving in this role, Wang was also appointed the Zanvyl Krieger Professor in Children's Health.[6] In this role, she continued to study biomarkers, clinical medicine, epidemiology and disease prevention and was eventually elected to the National Academy of Medicine.[7]
Personal life
Wang is married and speaks fluent Chinese and English.[1]