Dr. Qingpeng Zhang is an Associate Professor and HKU-100 Scholar jointly appointed at the Musketeers Foundation Institute of Data Science (IDS) and the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine at HKU, where he also chairs the IDS Faculty Higher Degree Committee. Prior to joining HKU in August 2023, he was an Associate Professor in the School of Data Science at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and held a postdoctoral research position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in Systems and Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona in 2012 and his B.Eng. in Automation from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2009.

Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on computational and systems medicine, AI-driven drug discovery, and complex systems. His work is published in top-tier journals including Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Communications, PNAS, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and various IEEE/ACM Transactions, and has been highlighted by major media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, BBC, CNN, The Times, and The Guardian. An IEEE Senior Member and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, he serves as an Associate Editor for npj Digital Medicine, BMJ Mental Health, IISE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering, and several IEEE Transactions. His recognitions include the HKU-100 Scholar Award (2023), the CityU President’s Award (2022), the CityU Outstanding Research Award (2021), and the IEEE Andrew P. Sage Best Transactions Paper Award (2021).

• Computational and systems medicine
• AI-driven drug discovery
• AI in medicine
• Complex systems

Current Research Project

Professor Zhang’s current research focuses on developing knowledge-enhanced predictive decision analytics methods to characterize the high-dimensional biological, clinical and behavioral data for drug discovery, precision medicine, and public health.

Selected Publications

(†: research student/staff; *: corresponding author)

• Luo, Y.†. , Zhang, N. , Yang, J.†. , Cui, M.†. , Tsoi, K.K.F. , Lip, G.Y.H. , Liu, T.*. & Zhang, Q.*. (2026). AI-based multiomics profiling reveals complementary omics contributions to personalized prediction of cardiovascular disease. Nature Communications. 17. 2269 doi:10.1038/s41467-026-68956-6
• Jing, F.†, Zhang, Z.K., Zhang, Q. & Parisi, G (2026). Predictability of complex networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 123/17. e2535161123 doi: 10.1073/pnas.2535161123
• Yang, J.†, He, H.*, Guan, L., Chen, S., Zhao, Y., Jiang, F., Wang, Z., Guo, Y., Xu, Z., Yuan, B., Song, J., Zhang, Q.*, Li, T.* & Yao, J.*. (2026). Epitope‑conditioned generation of T‑cell receptor β‑chain CDR3 candidates using a pre‑trained transformer model. Genome Biology. doi: 10.1186/s13059-026-04266-w
• Luo, Y.† , Yip, S.F.P. & Zhang, Q.* (2024). Positive association between Internet use and mental health among adults aged ≥50 years in 23 countries. Nature Human Behaviour. doi:10.1038/s41562-024-02048-7
• Yao, Y.† , Chen, F.Y.H. & Zhang, Q.* (2024). Optimized patient-specific immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies for cancer treatment based on tumor immune microenvironment modeling. Briefings in Bioinformatics. 25/6. bbae547 doi:10.1093/bib/bbae547
• Ye, Y.† , Cao, Z. , Zeng, D.D. & Zhang, Q.* (2024). Supply chain loss from easing COVID-19 restrictions: an evolutionaryeconomic-epidemiological modelling study. Proceedings of the Royal Society A. 480/2283. 0803 (cover feature) doi:10.1098/rspa.2023.0803
• Lu, Yi.† , Chu, Q. , Li, Z. , Wang, M. , Gatenby, R. & Zhang, Q.* (2024). Deep reinforcement learning identies personalized intermittent androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. Briefings in Bioinformatics. 25/2. bbae071 doi:10.1093/bib/bbae071
• Zhou, J.† , Zhang, Q. (joint first author). , Zhou, S.* , Li, X.* & Zhang, M. (2023). Unintended Emotional Effects of Online Health Communities: A Text Mining-Supported Empirical Study. MIS Quarterly. 47/1. 195 – 226. doi:10.25300/MISQ/2022/17018
• Yang, J.† , Li, Z. , Wu, W.K.K. , Yu, S. , Xu, Z.† , Chu, Q.* & Zhang, Q.* (2022). Deep Learning Identifies Explainable Reasoning Paths of Mechanism of Action for Drug Repurposing from Multilayer Biological Network. Briefings in Bioinformatics. 23/6. bbac469 doi:10.1093/bib/bbac469
• Guo, M.† , Xu, Z.† , Zhang, Q.* , Liao, X. & Liu, J. (2022). Deciphering Feature Effects on Decision-Making in Ordinal Regression Problems: An Explainable Ordinal Factorization Model. ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data. 16/3. 1 – 26. doi:10.1145/3487048
• Ye, Y.† , Zhang, Q.* , Wei, X. , Cao, Z. , Yuan, S.H.Y. & Zeng, D.D.* (2022). Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines makes a life-saving difference to all countries. Nature Human Behaviour. 6. 207 – 216 (cover feature). doi:10.1038/s41562-022-01289-8
• Zhang, Q.* , Gao, J. , Wu, J.T. , Cao, Z. & Zeng, D.D. (2022). Data Science Approaches to Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical and Engineering Sciences. 380/2214. 20210127 doi:10.1098/rsta.2021.0127
• Yang, J.† , Xu, Z.† , Wu, W.K.K. , Chu, Q. & Zhang, Q.* (2021). GraphSynergy: Network Inspired Deep Learning Model for Anti–Cancer Drug Combination Prediction. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 28/11. 2336 – 2345. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocab162
• Ye, Y.† , Zhang, Q.* , Ruan, Z. , Cao, Z. , Xuan, Q. & Zeng, D.D. (2020). Effect of heterogeneous risk perception on information diffusion, behavior change, and disease transmission. Physical Review E. 102. 042314 doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.102.042314
• Wang, Y.† , Zhang, Q.* & Yang, X.* (joint first authors) (2020). Evolution of the Chinese Guarantee Network under Financial Crisis and Stimulus Program. Nature Communications. 11. 2693 doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16535-8

The ever-growing alumni list of Professor Zhang’s group

• Dr. Fei Jing (Postdoc 2023-2026, Current: Assistant Professor at Ocean University of China)
• Mr. Xuanang Wen (M.S. 2025-2026, Current: RA at HKU)
• Dr. Yao Yao (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Frank Youhua Chen and Prof. Clint Ho, 2021-2025, Next: Postdoc at HKU, Current: Xiamen University)
• Ms. Xin Wang (M.S. 2024-2025, Current: International Regulatory Affairs Specialist, Huadong Medicine)
• Dr. Yifan Chen (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Linyan Li 2021-2025, Current: HKU)
• Dr. Weibin Cheng (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Linyan Li 2021-2025, Current: Associate Director of the AI Research Institute and Full Professor, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital)
• Dr. Yitao Lu (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Clint Ho 2020-2024, Current: Quant at Y-intercept)
• Dr. Dandan Wang (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Feicheng Ma, Wuhan University and Prof. Linyan Li 2021-2024, Current: Postdoc at Hong Kong Baptist University)
• Dr. Zhiheng Lyu (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Kowk Leung Tsui, Virginia Tech and Prof. Linyan Li 2019-2024, Current: Researcher at China Mobile Research Institute)
• Dr. Hanchu Zhou (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Helai Huang, Central South University 2019-2023, Current: Associate Professor at Central South University)
• Dr. Jiannan Yang (Ph.D. 2019-2023, Current: Assistant Professor at Nanjing University)
• Dr. Yang Ye (Ph.D. 2019-2023, Current: Research Faculty Member at Yale University)
• Dr. Weilan Wang (Postdoc 2021-2023, Current: Research Fellow at National University of Singapore)
• Ms. Xinru Fang (RA 2022, Current: The Boston Consulting Group)
• Dr. Yu Cheng (Ray) Hsu (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Kwok Leung Tsui, Virginia Tech 2020-2022, Next: Research Assistant Professor at HKU, Current: Lecturer at HKU)
• Mr. Yishun Luo (RA 2021-2022, Next: The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
• Mr. Wenlong Liu (M.S. and RA 2021-2022, Current: RA at HKU)
• Ms. Xinxin Gong (RA 2021-2022, Current: Huawei)
• Dr. Jin Wang (Postdoc 2021, Current: Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University)
• Dr. Fengshi Jing (Ph.D. 2018-2021, Next: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Current: Associate Professor at City University of Macau)
• Dr. Chaocheng He (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Jiang Wu, Wuhan University 2018-2021, Current: Associate Professor at Wuhan University)
• Dr. Mengzhuo Guo (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Xiuwu Liao, Xi’an Jiaotong University 2018-2021, Next: Tencent, Current: Assistant Professor at Sichuan University)
• Dr. Jiandong Zhou (Ph.D. 2018-2021, Next: Postdoc at The University of Oxford, Current: Assistant Professor at University of Warwick)
• Mr. Xinmiao Qu (M.S. 2020-2021, Current: China Telecom Global)
• Mr. Kaichen Tang (M.S. 2019-2020, Current: obtained Ph.D. from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Current: BGI)
• Mr. Zhe Yuan (M.S. 2019-2020, Current: Huawei)
• Dr. Zhongzhi Xu (Ph.D. 2017-2020, HKSBH Excellent Doctoral Dissertation in Behavioral Heath Award, Next: Postdoc at HKU, Current: Associate Professor at Sun Yat-sen University)
• Dr. Lu Zhong (Ph.D. 2015-2019, Next: Postdoc at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Research Assistant Professor at Clemson University, Current: Provost Fellow at Dartmouth College)
• Mr. Chenhan Zhang (M.S. 2018-2019, Current: PhD student at University of Technology Sydney)
• Dr. Jiaqi Zhou (Ph.D. 2015-2018, Current: Alibaba)
• Dr. Haolin Wang (Ph.D. Jointly supervised with Prof. Jiahu Yuan, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2015-2018, Current: Associate Professor at Chongqing Medical University)
• Dr. Lifang Li (Ph.D. jointly supervised with Prof. Jun Tian, Xi’an Jiaotong University 2015-2018, Current: Postdoc at King’s College London)
• Dr. Yingli Wang (Ph.D. jointly-supervised with Prof. Xiaoguang Yang, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2016-2018, Next: Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Ms. Yi Chai (M.S. 2016-2017, RA 2017-2018, Next: obtained Ph.D. from HKU, Current: Research Assistant Professor at HKU)
• Dr. Ronghua Xu (Ph.D. 2014-2017, Current: Assistant Professor at Zhejiang University of Technology)
• Ms. Manqing Dong (M.S. 2015-2016, Next: obtained Ph.D. from The University of New South Wales, Current: eBay)