Prof Ming Wen
Chair Professor in Population Sciences & Sociology
Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences
Ming Wen Joined the University of Hong Kong in the Fall of 2022 as the Dean of Social Sciences. She started her academic career at the University of Utah in 2003, where she rose through the academic ranks to full professorship in 2013 and chaired the Department of Sociology from 2015 to 2021.
Wen is a population scholar studying the social determinants of health and human development across the life course, with broad training in sociology, epidemiology, and statistics. Her US-based studies have examined the place and family effects on various health and lifestyle outcomes across the life course. Her recent China-based work focuses on how family rural-to-urban migration plays a role in child developmental outcomes and how living arrangements and socio-relational characteristics affect health and well-being among middle-aged and older adults. She has recently received a large collaborative grant from the Research Grants Council (Hong Kong) (RGC) to study early childhood development in Hong Kong using survey, direct assessment, and intervention methods. Wen has published prolifically on social contexts of population outcomes in top-specialty or top-generalist journals such as Demography, Social Forces, Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Gerontology, Child Development, Milbank Quarterly, Social Science & Research, and American Journal of Public Health. Her research has been widely cited and generously funded by the NIH (USA), the RGC (HK), and various private foundations.
B.S., Information Science, Peking University
M.S., Statistics, University of Chicago
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Chicago
Social determinants of health & well-being
Midlife health and mortality, aging and the life course
Child development
Urban sociology
Migration
Wen's research portfolio encompasses a range of interdisciplinary projects focused on health disparities and life course development across different cultural contexts, supported by NIH in the US and RGC in Hong Kong.
US-Based Research (NIH-Funded R01s): Wen is working on two NIH-funded projects: (1) a study on how neighborhood and place characteristics impact health and mortality outcomes in middle-aged and older Americans, utilizing national longitudinal surveys and local population data; and (2) an investigation into health and lifestyle disparities between Pacific Islanders and other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S., employing a mixed-methods approach via survey and intervention methods.
China-Based Research: Wen leverages national longitudinal data to explore how family structures, transitions, and dynamics shape the health and mortality of China's aging population.
Early Childhood Development (RGC funded CRF): In Hong Kong, Wen directs a comprehensive longitudinal study on early childhood development. This primary data collection initiative tracks early child developmental patterns and trajectories, specifically investigating family influences through surveys, direct child assessments, and targeted interventions in Hong Kong.
2015 College of Social Behavioral Science Senior Superior Research Award Winner, University of Utah
2008 College of Social Behavioral Science Junior Superior Research Award Winner, University of Utah
2007 OYCF-Ford Teaching Fellowship
2006 NSF Sponsored Space Workshop Fellowship
2005 NSF National Poverty Center Summer Workshop on Poverty Fellowship
2005 RAND/NIA Summer Institute on Aging Fellowship
Cheung ESL, Curtis DS, Grineski S, Wei YD & Wen M. 2025. “Spatial social polarization and cardiometabolic disease prevalence and incidence: What is the role of the neighborhood environment” Journal of Health and Social Behavior: In press. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40635408/
Wen M, Zheng H, Chen J-H, Fong TCT, Li Y & Su D. 2025. “Contribution of social and lifestyle factors to cognitive status and 5-year change among middle-aged and older Americans” Humanities & Social Sciences Communication 12:214. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04521-8
Hill T, Cheung PY, Curtis DS, Wei YD, Upenieks L & Wen M. 2024. “Neighborhood context, divine struggles, and psychological distress” Society and Mental Health: 1-17. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21568693241300627
Wen M, Wang W, Ahmmad Z & Jin L. 2023. “Parental migration and self-efficacy among rural-origin adolescents in China: Patterns and mechanisms” Journal of Community Psychology 51(2):626-647. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jcop.22976
Wen M, Shi L, Zhang D, Li Y, Chen Z, Chen B, Chen L, Zhang L, Li H, Li J, Han X & Su D. 2023. “Racial and ethnic disparities in psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: The role of experienced and perceived racial bias” BMC Public Health 23:957 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37231401/
Curtis DS, Fuller TE, Carlson DL, Wen M & Kramer MR. 2022. “Does a rising median income lift all birth weights? County median income changes and low birth weight rates among births to black and white mothers.” The Milbank Quarterly 100:38-77. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34609027/#:~:text=…
Wen M & Ren Q. 2021. “Cognitive and psychological health implications of living alone among middle-aged and older adults in China.” Asian Population Studies 17:181-200.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/174417…Wen M. 2017. Social capital and adolescent substance use: The role of family, school and neighborhood contexts. Journal of Research on Adolescence 27:362-378. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28876530/
Wen M. 2014. “Participation in religious services and parental and child well-being: Findings from the National Survey of America’s Families” Journal of Religion and Health 53(5):1539-61.
Wen M & Gu D. 2011. The effects of childhood, adulthood, and community socioeconomic status on healthy longevity among older people in China. Demography 48:153-181.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC36901…Wen M, Lauderdale DS & Kandula N. 2009. “The ethnic neighborhoods in multi-ethnic America, 1990-- 2000: Ethnoburbs and a resurgence of ethnicity?” Social Forces 88(1):425-460 https://academic.oup.com/sf/article-abstract/88/1/425/1882727
Wen M, Hawkley L & Cacioppo J. 2006. “Objective and perceived neighborhood environment, individual SES and psychosocial factors, and self-rated health: An analysis of older adults in Cook County, Illinois” Social Science & Medicine 63(10): 2575-2590. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16905230/
Wen M, Browning CR & Cagney KA. 2003. “Poverty, affluence, and income inequality: Neighborhood economic structure and its implications for health.”
Social Science & Medicine 57:843-860. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12850110/