Dr. Zhong Cao
Postdoctoral Researcher
Head of Research Unit
Dr. Zhong Cao is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), Faculty of Medicine, Heidelberg University, Germany. His work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, medicine, and global health, with a particular focus on leveraging machine learning and data science to address large-scale health and economic challenges.
He received his Ph.D. in Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, where he specialized in machine learning, including zero-shot and few-shot learning methodologies. His early research laid the foundation for advancing intelligent systems capable of learning under limited data conditions, which he now translates into real-world medical and public health applications.
At Heidelberg, Dr. Cao contributes to global health research initiatives that integrate AI-driven methods with population health, health economics, and policy analysis. His work has been published in leading journals such as Nature Medicine, The Lancet Global Health, and JAMA Oncology, addressing topics including the global economic burden of diseases and AI-enabled clinical decision support.
Beyond research, he plays an active role in the global academic community. He serves as a Youth Editorial Board Member of Science Bulletin (2026–2027) and contributes as a reviewer for top-tier journals and conferences across both AI and medical fields, including Nature, The Lancet, BMJ, NeurIPS, and CVPR. He is also involved in major international collaborations such as the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) network and the Lancet Commission on Population Medicine, further bridging computational innovation with real-world health impact.
Dr. Cao’s long-term vision is to build intelligent, scalable healthcare systems that integrate AI technologies with policy and population-level insights, contributing to more equitable and efficient global health systems.
Contact
Education & Awards
Education
- Ph.D. in Engineering (Control Science and Engineering), Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Focus: Machine Learning, Zero-shot & Few-shot Learning
- B.Eng. in Automation
- B.Econ. in Economics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Contributions
Publications
Selected publications in Nature Medicine, The Lancet Global Health, and JAMA Oncology
Chen S.*, Cao Z.#, Prettner K., Kuhn M., Yang J., et al., The global macroeconomic burden of diabetes mellitus, Nature Medicine, 32 (2026), 126–138, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-04027-5
Chen S.*, Cao Z.#, Nandi A., Counts N., et al., The global macroeconomic burden of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias: estimates and projections for 152 countries or territories, The Lancet Global Health, 12(9), e1534–e1543, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00264-X
Chen S.*, Cao Z.#, Prettner K., Kuhn M., et al., Estimates and projections of the global economic cost of 29 cancers in 204 countries and territories from 2020 to 2050, JAMA Oncology, 9(4), 465–472, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.7826
Cao Z.#, Tong X., Liu H., Luo Y., et al., Burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its attributable risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2021: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, BMJ Public Health, 4(1), e002489, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjph-2024-002489
Cao Z.#, Lu J., Cui S., Zhang C.*, Zero-shot handwritten Chinese character recognition with hierarchical decomposition embedding, Pattern Recognition, 107, 107488, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patcog.2020.107488
Contact Information
E-Mail: zhong.cao@uni-heidelberg.de