Jiayao Lei

Jiayao Lei

Assistant Professor
Visiting address: Nobels väg 12 a, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB ll Clements Lei, 171 77 Stockholm

About me

  • I am an assistant professor in epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet and visiting senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, UK.

    Current team members:
    Katharina Eschelbach (PhD student, 2025-)

    Zhongsong Zhang (PhD student, 2025-)

    Eva Meglic (PhD student, 2024-)

    Yunyang Deng (Postdoc, 2024-)

    Former team members:

    Ana Martina Astorga Alsina (Master student & Research Assistant, 2023-2024)

    Shiqiang Wu (Research Assistant, 2024-2025)

    Maria Emanuela Noto (Master student, 2024)

    Katharina Eschelbach (Master student, 2025)

Research

  • My research lies in preventive medicine, primarily focusing on cancer and vaccine epidemiology. I use methodologies that employ observational designs leveraging electronic health records as well as modeling techniques to support preventive programs. The research output is pivotal in advancing the global effort in controlling human papillomavirus (HPV)-related diseases, particularly aligning with the WHO's global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem.

    The main areas of my research contain:
    1) An extensive evaluation of HPV vaccination in Sweden, encompassing both girls-only and gender-neutral vaccination programs. This includes studying the vaccine's effectiveness and its impact on reducing HPV-related diseases in the population.
    2) Investigating the relationship between HPV, HPV vaccination, and reproductive outcomes.
    3) Developing risk prediction models for cervical diseases, which incorporate screening trajectories and other risk factors.
    4) Forecast the impact of HPV vaccination on the six types of HPV-associated cancers

    Grants:
    My research work is supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR), Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (Forte), Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden), Karolinska Institutet Strategic Research Area in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (SFOepi), and Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation.

Teaching

  • 2023-2024 Clinical Cancer Epidemiology, King's College London and Karolinska Institutet
    2022 -2024 Introduction to Epidemiology, Skandinaviska Kiropraktorhöskolan
    2021 Study design, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
    2018 Biostatistics I, Karolinska Institutet

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
    Research problem and specific questionsHuman papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has demonstrated remarkable effectiveness in lowering the risk of HPV infections and cervical diseases. While the vaccination has been extended to boys, evaluation on the sex-neutral vaccination program is needed to understand the impact in preventing HPV-related diseases in both women and men.  Besides, there might be reproductive benefits for vaccinated women due to lower risk of HPV infection and treatment for cervical lesions, but yet to be investigated.In this register-based evaluation of HPV vaccination program, we proposed three working packages aiming to answer the research questions of 1) what is the long-term impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer, and how does the effectiveness differ by doses, time since vaccination and vaccine types? 2) What is the effectiveness of sex-neutral HPV vaccination in reducing the risk of HPV-related diseases in both men and women? 3) Can HPV vaccination lower the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes?Data and methodThe project will use nationwide Swedish registers accessed through the existing advancing cervical cancer eradication strategies (ACCES) database at Karolinska Institutet. The project will involve large-scale epidemiological studies using an observational study design to evaluate the long-term impact of HPV vaccines.Societal relevance and utilisationThe research is highly relevant to the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer launched by WHO and United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce child mortality. The findings from the project will provide comprehensive evidence on the long-term effectiveness of HPV vaccination and its impact on maternal and fetal health, which will aid clinicians and policy makers in making informed decisions about cancer prevention and optimizing HPV vaccination programs. The project is expected to have immediate benefits for all genders and promote vaccination coverage at the global level.Plan for project realisationThe project will be conducted over a 3-year period and collaborated with a team of epidemiologists, experienced physicians, and biostatisticians at Karolinska Institutet and Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2027
    Infection of oncogenic types of human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause six types of cancers, occurring in cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus and oropharynx. To date, HPV vaccination has been shown to have remarkable effectiveness in preventing the vaccine-type HPV infections and cervical disease in women, but less is known for the effectiveness of sex-neutral HPV vaccination program. The purpose of the project is to assess the impact of HPV vaccination programs in preventing HPV-related diseases and the potential benefits for pregnancy outcomes in large-scale epidemiological studies, utilizing nationwide Swedish registers. We proposed four working packages aiming to 1) examine the long-term impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer 2) evaluate the effectiveness of sex-neutral HPV vaccination 3) investigate the potential benefits (indirect effectiveness) on pregnancy outcomes 4) predict the impact of HPV vaccination on HPV-attributable cancers. The research is of great clinical significance and highly relevant to the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer launched by WHO and United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce child mortality. The project will be conducted over a 4-year period and involves collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of experts in epidemiology, infectious diseases, gynecology and obstetrics, health economics, and biostatistics, both within Sweden and beyond.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2021 - 30 November 2025
    The COMPARE project is a multidisciplinary effort to provide novel and comprehensive knowledge on the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) and generate data driven evidence to COVID-19 epidemics. The project includes optimally reliable and efficient epidemiological studies based on the high-quality nationwide Swedish register, and the COMPARE focuses on four work streams: 1) to assess the disease burden and clustering of PASC leveraging unique resources of SARS-CoV-2 Quality Assurance Registry 2) to understand the risk factors of PASC, how the clinical features of COVID-19 and virological features of SARS-CoV-2 interacts and its relation to long-term risk of PASC as well as in comparison with other virus infections 3) to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the risk of PASC 4) to examine the long-term risk of PASC using artificial intelligence technique and elucidate the impact of the variants of concerns on PASC through an international collaboration. COMPARE ensures that Sweden becomes a major participant in the international evaluation of PASC by being a prominent partner in the EU COVID-19 project EuCARE.The COMPARE project has assembled a competitive and multidisciplinary collaboration within Sweden and beyond. COMPARE aims to become an world-leading research project on COVID-19 and generate cutting edge evidence for PASC, which can help to develop effective preventive strategies and design health services tailored to address the syndrome.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 July 2021 - 31 December 2023
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 June 2021 - 31 May 2025

Employments

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-2029
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2023-2029

Degrees and Education

  • Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2020
  • Degree Of Master Of Medical Science 120 Credits, Karolinska Institutet, 2015

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