Bei Wu

Faculty

Bei Wu headshot

Bei Wu

FAAN FGSA PhD

Dean's Professor in Global Health
Vice Dean, Research
Affiliated Professor, Ashman Department of Periodontology & Implant Dentistry
Co-director, NYU Aging Incubator

1 212 992 5951

433 First Ave
New York, NY 10010
United States

Accepting PhD students

Dr. Wu is Dean’s Professor in Global Health and Vice Dean for Research at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She is an inaugural Co-Director of the NYU Aging Incubator. Prior to joining NYU, she was the Pauline Gratz Professor of Nursing at Duke University School of Nursing. Prof. Wu is an internationally-known leader in gerontology.

As a principal investigator, Prof. Wu has led numerous projects supported by federal agencies and private foundations, including the NIH and CDC. She is currently leading several NIH-funded projects including a clinical trial to improve oral health for persons

with cognitive impairment, and a large secondary data analysis to examine how the co-occurrence of diabetes and poor oral health may lead to the development of dementia and cognitive decline. She co-leads the newly funded Rutgers-NYU Center for Asian Health Promotion and Equity. Through this center, she also leads a 5-year intervention study that focuses on supporting Chinese and Korean dementia caregivers who are at increased risk for high blood pressure and diabetes due to the physical and emotional demands of caregiving. She is a director of the Research and Education Core for the NIA-funded Asian Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR).

As a scholar, Prof. Wu is an internationally known leader in gerontology. Her scholarship has been distinguished by interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers in various disciplines, including nursing and dentistry, in the US and abroad. Her research areas cover a wide range of topics related to aging and global health, including oral health, long-term care, dementia, and caregiving. She is one of the first in the nation to study the linkages between oral health and cognitive decline in older adults. Her research has also addressed knowledge gaps in the linkages between oral health and diabetes.

Prof. Wu has devoted much of her time to training the next generation of aging and nursing scientists from dozens of academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. She has mentored hundreds of faculty members, visiting scholars, and students from various disciplines, including nursing, gerontology, dentistry, medicine, social work, demography, public health, sociology, public policy, geography, and economics. She is successful in mentoring several dozens of early-stage faculty members in receiving competitive funding from NIH, Robert Wood Johnson Scholars, the Alzheimer’s Society (UK), National Science Foundation of China, China Medical Board, National Medical Research Council (Singapore), and many others. 

Prof. Wu is a productive researcher. She has published more than 600 peer-reviewed papers, books, reports, and conference abstracts. Her extensive publications cover a wide range of topics related to aging and global health. She has delivered presentations at hundreds of conferences as an invited speaker. Her work has been widely recognized in the field. Research findings from her team have been featured by the National Institute on Aging, and in numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, CNN, BBC, U.S. News and World Report, MarketWatch, CBS News, Reuters, AARP Bulletin, China Daily, Daily Mail, South China Morning Post, and Financial Review.

Her achievement has been recognized by many international and national organizations and she is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, and the New York Academy of Medicine. She is an honorary member of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, and is the former president of the Geriatric Oral Research Group of the International Association for Dental Research. She has served on a number of NIH review panels and is a frequent reviewer for multiple international funding agencies. She was honored as the 2017 IADR Distinguished Scientist in Geriatric Oral Research. She is the recipient of the 2022 Wei Hu Inspiration Award from the China Health Policy and Management Society. 

PhD - Gerontology Center, University of Massachusetts, Boston
MS - Gerontology Center, University of Massachusetts, Boston
BS - Shanghai University

Gerontology
Global

Honorary Member, Sigma Theta Tau International - Honor Society of Nursing

Distinguished Scientist Award for Geriatric Oral Research, International Association for Dental Research (2017)
Pauline Gratz Professorship, Duke University School of Nursing (2014)
J. Morita Junior Investigator Award in Geriatric Oral Health, International Association for Dental Research (2007)
Fellow, Gerontological Society of America
Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine
Fellow, Association for Gerontology in Higher Education

Chronic illness and depression among Chinese elderly immigrants.

Wu, B., Tran, T., & Amjad, Q. (2004). The Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 43(2), 79-95.

Chronic illnesses and depression among chinese immigrant elders

Wu, B., Tran, T. V., & Amjad, Q. A. (2004). Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 43(2), 79-95. 10.1300/J083v43n02_06
Abstract
Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of the study is to explore the unique effects of various chronic illnesses on depression in a sample of Chinese immigrant elders. Methods: The data were collected in the Greater Boston area at various social service agencies, social, and religious institutions. A self-administered sample of 177 Chinese-speaking immigrant elders was included in the study. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure depressive symptoms in the study. Regression analysis was performed for three measures of depression: 7-selected CES-D scale, its subscale somatic symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results: Chronic illnesses have various effects on the selected CES-D score, and its subscales under the total sample and the samples of male and female respondents. Conclusions: The findings suggest that medical, psychological, and social work treatments or interventions for depression should take the impact of chronic illnesses into consideration.

Cognitive function and acute care utilization

Walsh, E., Wu, B., Mitchell, J., & Berkman, L. (2003). Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 58(1), S38-49.

Use of social and medical services among rural racial/ethnicity minority elderly

Goins, R., Mitchell, J., & Wu, B. (2003). In R. Ham, R. Goins, & D. Brown (Eds.), Best Practice in Service Delivery to the Rural Elderly: A Report to the Administration on Aging (1–, pp. 55-62). West Virginia University, Center on Aging.

Chinese dementia specialist education program: Training chinese american health care professionals as dementia experts

Lombardo, N. B., Wu, B., Hohnstein, J. K., & Chang, K. (2002). Home Health Care Services Quarterly, 21(1), 67-86. 10.1300/J027v21n01_04
Abstract
Abstract
A Chinese Dementia Specialist Education Program (CDSEP) was launched in the Greater Boston Area to educate Chinese American health care providers who lacked adequate dementia education and services. This program trained bilingual health care providers to identify, assess and serve people with dementia and their families, and raised dementia awareness in Chinese American communities. The ten-month follow-up survey documented that the sixteen graduates helped over 70 families and held 76 workshops and formal and informal discussions, reaching over 400 people. The CDSEP demonstrates that a “Train the Trainer” model is an effective approach for building dementia care capacity in community-based agencies, increasing outreach to people with dementia and their families, and for raising dementia awareness in bilingual and minority communities.

Left ventricular ejection fraction test rates for Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure

Wu, B., & Pope, G. C. (2002). American Journal of Medical Quality, 17(2), 61-66. 10.1177/106286060201700204
Abstract
Abstract
The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) test rate is increasingly used as a quality of care indicator for patients with heart failure. Our study produced benchmark LVEF test rates in a Medicare fee-for-service population for consideration by a clinical panel assembled by the Health Care Financing Administration. Our sample consisted of 46,583 beneficiaries admitted to the hospital for heart failure and with a complete set of Medicare fee-for-service bills dated 1996 or 1997. The national 2-year LVEF test rate was 79% for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries hospitalized for heart failure. Except for 1 state, the test rate ranged from 61% to 89% across states. Our analysis demonstrates the feasibility of using billing data to compute LVEF test rates. Using a 2-year time window and measuring tests performed in outpatient as well as inpatient settings, we find a higher LVEF test rate than has been reported by most previous studies.

Left ventricular ejection fraction test rates for Medicare heart failure patients

Wu, B., & Pope, G. (2002). American Journal of Medical Quality, 17(2), 61-66.

Job characteristics and leisure physical activity

Wu, B., & Wu, B. (2000). Journal of Aging and Health, 12(4), 538-559. 10.1177/089826430001200405
Abstract
Abstract
Objectives: This study employs a sample population of older workers to estimate an empirical model of leisure exercise activity. Alternative theories relating work and leisure attitudes relevant for understanding the exercise behavior of older workers are tested empirically. Methods: Responses of 6,433 full-time older workers (51 to 61 years old) from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) are grouped into two white-collar and blue-collar worker categories and are analyzed to test whether self-reported levels of regular physical activity are associated with the physical demands and stress associated with one's job. Results: Although the white-collar workers, whose jobs involve more physical efforts, are more likely to do light physical activity, the blue-collar workers, whose jobs are more physically demanding, tend to engage in more vigorous exercise. Discussion: The empirical results are most supportive of the generalization theory, and they also illustrate the complexity of relationships between work and leisure physical activity.

Dementia care in the U.S

Song, P., & Wu, B. (1998). In G. Feng (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Meeting the 21st Century Challenge of Aging (1–, pp. 853-856). Shanghai Science and Technology Publisher.

The oldest old

Silverstein, N., & Wu, B. (1998). In G. Feng (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Meeting the 21st Century Challenge of Aging: Their contributions and concerns (1–, pp. 511-521). Shanghai Science and Technology Publisher.