Revised December 26, 2018

Yuexuan Xu
Curriculum Vitae
305 Kingsford St · Monterey Park, CA 91754 · (213) 709-6054 · yuexuanx@usc.edu · yuexuan.xu@foxmail.com

EDUCATION

University of Southern California, Sol Price School of Public Policy Los Angeles, CA
Master of Public Policy, GPA: 3.79/4.0, Health Policy and Economics Track December 2018
• Honors: Recipient of the Pi Alpha Alpha Honorary Society Membership
• Related Coursework: Economics, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Advanced Econometrics, Operation Research,
GIS and Spatial Analysis, Program Evaluation, Risk Analysis, Genoeconomics, Genomics

Shandong University, School of Political Science and Public Administration Jinan, China
Bachelor of Management, Public Affairs Administration; GPA: 85.3/100, Top five in class July 2015
• Honors: Recipient of the Academic Based Merit Scholarship
Recipient of the Outstanding Graduation Thesis Award
Recipient of the Provincial Outstanding Thesis Nomination Award in Shandong Province, China
• Leadership: Chair of the School of Political Science and Public Administration Publicity Committee
• Related Coursework: Advanced Calculus, Statistical Analysis, Micro/Macro Economics, Public Health
Administration, Sociology, Survey Design, Public Finance, Public Administration, Urban Planning

PROFESSIONAL AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research Los Angeles, CA
Full-time Research Assistant 2018 – Present
• Constructed Add Health GWAS Polygenic Score (PGS) for the project developed at CESR.
• Worked on the following research topics: Health Disparity, Genoeconomics, Genomics.

USC ESR Center for the Health Inequality (CSHI) Los Angeles, CA
Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Titus Galama 2018 – 2018
• Assisted Dr. Galama in multiple research projects.
• Worked on the following research topics: Health Policy, Health Disparity, Genoeconomics.

USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Los Angeles, CA

Graduate Research Assistant to Professor Robynn Cox 2017 – 2018
• Assisted Professor Cox in two research projects
• Worked on the following research topics: Social Well-being, Health Policy, Labor Policy

International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) New York, NY

Offsite Policy Analyst 2017 – 2018
• Contributed to an analytic project developed at the IRAP.
• Worked on the following research topics: Cost-Benefit Analysis, Health Policy, Immigration Policy.

Fudan University, Public Performance and Information Research Center Shanghai, China
Research Assistant to Professor Junyu Niu 2017 – 2017
• Acquired and analyzed public performance data at the county level.
• Analyzed government performance in the city of Macau, the special administrative region of China.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

USC Sol Price School of Public Policy Los Angeles, CA

Grader/Teaching Assistant for Professor John Romley 2018 – 2018
• Assisted Professor John Romley on the Course Multivariate Statistical Analysis.
• Graded weekly assignments and offered TA sessions with very high attendance.
 Revised December 26, 2018

AWARDS, PATENTS, AND CONFERENCE

Realization Method and Devices for Multi-Objective Optimal Power Flow in Power System Beijing, China, 2012
Best Contributor, The 4 National Model United Nations Conference
th
Jinan, China, 2013
Outstanding Award, Challenge Cup Jinan, China, 2014
Conference on Polygenic Prediction and Its Application in Social Science Los Angeles, CA, 2018

RESEARCH PROJECTS

“Income, Non-Medical Employee Benefit Plan, and Health – An Instrumental Variable Approach"
Summary: The relationship between income and health has been at the center of debate in the field of health research. This
study analyzes the effect of income on health with a special focus on mental health, obesity, and self-reported health status.
A multinomial-ordered IV Logit Model was estimated using data provided by NLSY 97. Income is instrumented by two
non-medical employee benefits—Employee Stock Ownership and Paid Maternity Leave. Because non-random missingness
in the IV two-stage estimating process may result in a bias, the limited Information estimator was used to account for
potential selection bias. The results indicated an inversed bi-directional relationship between income and health for high-
income and low-income groups for young adults overall.

“The Geo-Relationship Between Childhood Asthma and Environment in Los Angeles County”
Summary: In Los Angeles County, asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in children. Currently, no known
cure for asthma exists, but research has found that asthma can efficiently be relieved through proper medical and self-
protection and reduced exposure to environmental triggers. However, to date, no study has thoroughly examined the
relationship between asthma and environment from a geographical perspective. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap
through a thorough analysis of the geo-relationship between childhood asthma and environment in Los Angeles County.

“The Effects of Alcohol Dependency on Drug Abuse at the Legal Drinking Age”
Summary: Alcohol dependency and drug abuse are severe public health problems in the United States. Although there has
been much progress regarding the adverse effects of alcohol dependency and drug abuse on people, few studies have deeply
explored the underlying relationship between these two. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this gap by examining the
effects of alcohol dependency on drug abuse at the legal drinking age. Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) was
employed as the primary analytical framework.

“Does Childhood Environment Moderate the Disparity in Genetic Predisposition for Peak Smoking”
Summary: Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable illness, disability, and premature death in the United States,
and it is strongly influenced by genetic as well as childhood environmental factors. In this study, I replicate the research
carried out by Bierut et al. (2017), but using a different sample and a set of more comprehensive childhood environmental
measures. Given that genetic variants are always found closely associated with smoking behaviors, I used the Polygenic
Score (PGSs) that include all Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) from Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to
evaluate whether childhood environment moderates genetic predisposition for maximal smoking.
* This paper was pre-published on research gate. Link:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329011854_Does_Childhood_Environment_Moderate_the_Disparity_in_Genetic_Predisposition_for_Peak_Smo
king_--A_Replication_of_Childhood_Socioeconomic_Status_Moderates_Genetic_Predisposition_for_Peak_Smoking

SKILLS

Data Analytical Software: STATA, Excel-Macro, SAS, Arc-GIS, Matlab, R Programming

Office Software: Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint; Google Office Software; LaTeX
Analytical Skills: Cost-Benefit Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Risk Analysis, Advanced Regression Analysis, Economic
Analysis, Mathematical Modeling, Time-series Analysis, Bayesian Analysis, Narrative Analysis, Survey Design, Case
Study, Operation Research, Mathematical Programming, Spatial Analysis, Sensitivity Analysis

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Languages: Mandarin (Native); English (Proficient); Cantonese (Limited Proficiency)

• Memberships: Greenpeace Organization, American Planning Association
• Hobbies: Reading, Swimming, Photography
• Personal Website: http://yuexuanxu.weebly.com
• ORCID: 0000-0002-2732-7199