On April 8, 2024, the Fudan Institute for Global Public Policy (IGPP) held the 8th lecture of the Fudan-Arab Lecture Series. Professor Xiang Gao, the Dean of the Institute of Nutrition at Fudan University, delivered a lecture on Cohort Studies of Neurological Disorders. The lecture was hosted by Professor Yijia Jing, the Dean of the IGPP. Professor Gao is a distinguished professor at Fudan University and the Dean of the Institute of Nutrition, focusing his research on nutrition, sleep, neurological disorders, and aging. Professor Gao Xiang has published over 300 papers in SCI Journals, and his research findings have been reported by major media outlets worldwide.

Professor Gao shared his over 20 years of experience in cohort studies, systematically introducing how to collect data on neurological disorders in Chinese, American, and clinical populations using the example of Parkinson's disease. He then discussed the relationship between nutrition, nicotine, and Parkinson's disease, as well as the prodromal symptoms of Parkinson's disease. 

In the comments and Q&A session, Xin Ye, assistant professor of the IGPP engaged in discussions with Professor Gao on the challenges of conducting cohort studies in different countries and cultural backgrounds. The audiences actively participated in discussions on topics such as the reasons for non-reproducibility of cohort study results, causal relationships in cohort studies, and the relationship between cohort studies and other social science research methods.