Susan's Lab
Research Field
Prof. Jung-Su Chang received her Master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition from the University of Glasgow in 2000 and her PhD from University College London (UCL) in 2006. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Moredun and Roslin Research Institutes in Scotland (Prof. David Haig’s Lab), and at the Technical University of Munich in Germany (Prof. Dirk Haller’s Lab). In 2011, she joined the School of Nutrition and Health Sciences at Taipei Medical University, Taiwan.
Prof. Chang’s research initially focused on obesity-related metabolic and iron disorders. Recognizing the complexity of nutrition-related health challenges, her recent work has shifted toward AI-assisted nutrition literacy education and personalized nutrition care. She has led interdisciplinary projects integrating large language models (LLMs) and AI-powered tools into clinical and educational settings to enhance dietitian training, empower patient-centered nutrition decision-making, and support national licensure exam preparation. Her ongoing work explores how generative AI can bridge gaps in nutrition knowledge, reduce health disparities, and improve the scalability of individualized dietary interventions.
Prof. Jung-Su Chang leads a research lab exploring two interrelated themes:
- How obesity-related inflammation affects iron metabolism, and how disrupted iron homeostasis contributes to metabolic disorders and brain health;
- How digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) can be integrated into personalized nutrition care and education to improve health outcomes.
Her lab takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining molecular nutrition, clinical research, and educational innovation. In recent years, her team has focused on AI-assisted nutrition literacy programs, personalized dietary assessment systems, and the role of generative AI in professional dietetic training and public health education.
The lab currently includes three international PhD students (from Vietnam, Iran, and Africa), and one master’s student from Taiwan. This diverse team brings together expertise from nutrition science, medical informatics, and health education to tackle global nutrition challenges through innovation and technology.
Current ongoing projects in Prof. Jung-Su Chang’s lab center on Human–AI co-learning in the context of nutrition education and clinical care. The team investigates how humans interact with generative AI in learning environments, with a particular focus on interaction trajectories (e.g., prompting behavior, verification habits, tool-switching patterns) that contribute to effective learning or clinical decision-making.
In the domain of clinical nutrition, ongoing studies apply generative AI to support personalized dietary care, including:
AI-assisted menu optimization based on individual needs and preferences,
Food image recognition for automated dietary analysis and personalized nutrition feedback for individuals with chronic diseases, based on clinical guidelines such as Taiwan DRIs, nutrient density scores, or disease-specific recommendations.
- 2025 TAIWAN AI RAP Awardee – Granted AI computing resources (NT$700,000) for customized workflow design, multi-model APIs, and model fine-tuning.
- The 51th Annual Taiwan Nutrition Society's Outstanding Research Award (2025)
- Excellence Award for the Excellent Innovation in Curriculum and Teaching Award for University Teachers, Taiwan (2024)
- The 50th Annual Taiwan Nutrition Society's Contribution Award for Nutrition Education and Promotion ( 2024)
- Ministry of Science and Technology Research Award (Attracting and Rewarding Outstanding Talent with Flexible Salary) for the years 2016-2019, 2021-2024
- Taipei Medical University Academic Research Award for the year 2020.
- PhD degree: Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health, University College London (UCL), UK
- MSc degree: Human Nutrition Dept, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK