Shelley Zhang, MD, MSc, received her medical degree in 1983 from Jiangxi Medical College and her Master of Science in 1989 from Suzhou Medical College, China. She was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at McMaster University, Canada, from 1990 to 1992 and then became a Research Associate at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.  In 1999 Dr. Zhang joined the University of Louisville as a Research Associate and later became a Senior Research Associate. She was recruited to the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor (RA) in 2009.

Dr. Zhang is interested in mitochondrial carriers and their roles in maintaining normal mitochondrial function. Her recent work has defined uncoupling protein 4 as a master regulator of important mitochondrial functions in neuronal cells, including reactive oxygen species homeostasis, respiration, and the mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway. She is currently focused on delineating the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which UCP4 regulates downstream targets, especially its effects on inner mitochondrial membrane composition, protein assembly, and the mitochondrial antioxidant machinery. She also studies mitochondrial mechanisms that lead to neuronal dysfunction in rodent models of obstructive sleep apnea.