Xiaotong (Mark) Wang

I am currently a SMARTbiomed postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Psychiatry and Big Data Institute, working under the supervision of Professor Naomi Wray. My research centers on quantitative genetics, with a particular interest in understanding complex human traits and diseases. 

Complex human traits and diseases, such as depression and schizophrenia, are polygenic in nature, posing unique challenges in identifying all causal variants and fully elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms behind these disorders. My work aims to develop more effective statistical methods for interpreting human hereditary material, which are then applied to advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of complex human disorders.

I began my academic training at the School of Basic Medical Sciences at Peking University before transferring to the University of Toronto, where I completed an Honours Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Statistics and Immunology. I subsequently earned my Doctor of Medicine at the University of Queensland and joined the Programs in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG). My clinical experiences—particularly those involving critically ill patients and the persistent gaps observed in treatment outcomes—strongly motivated my pursuit of a career as a clinician-scientist. My time at PCTG was especially formative, solidifying my aspiration to serve as a bridge between clinicians and biostatisticians to improve patient care through data-driven approaches.

Motivated by this goal, I pursued an MD–PhD pathway and joined the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, where I recently completed my Doctor of Philosophy. My doctoral thesis, entitled “Quantitative Genomics of Complex Human Traits and Diseases,” was conducted under the supervision of Professor Naomi Wray and Professor Peter Visscher.

Outside of my academic and professional activities, I am an avid sports enthusiast and an amateur tennis player. I also have a strong interest in trains, airplanes, and mechanical systems, and I am particularly fond of corgis.