Ling Zhao received her Ph.D. in Molecular and Biochemical Nutrition from the University of California Berkeley in 2002 and her Bachelor's degree in Medicine (MD equivalent) from Peking University Health Science Center in 1993. She joined the Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee Knoxville, as an Assistant Professor in 2009. She was promoted to a full professor in 2021 in the same department. Her research topics mainly include obesity, bioactive nutrients, brown adipogenesis, browning, and thermogenesis.