Dr. Wu is a genetic epidemiologist. Her work deals with how genetic and environmental risk factors contribute to disease etiology. She uses statistical genetics to identify genetic and environmental factors for chronic diseases. Dr. Wu also studies birth defects, particularly cleft lip and cleft palate, and is conducting a family-based study on the genetic epidemiology of non-syndromic oral clefts among Chinese populations. For these projects, she uses genome-wide association, linkage, and sequence data to identify susceptibility loci for complex traits.