Dr. Shu and her research team comprehensively evaluated the impact of lifestyle, nutrition, dietary intake, tumor markers, genetic susceptibility, and social support on breast cancer outcomes, discovering that tea consumption and exercise participation lower the risk of depression among breast cancer survivors, that social support during cancer treatment improves breast cancer outcomes, and that smoking increases the risk of breast cancer recurrence and mortality. Her findings also identified genetic susceptibility and tumor markers for breast cancer outcomes, results that point to promising areas of potential intervention. Applying a genome-wide association study approach, she and her colleagues have identified multiple novel genetic markers for breast, colorectal and other cancers, as well as for diabetes and body mass index. They discovered inflammation-related and oxidative stress-related biomarkers that can potentially be used to identify individuals at high risk for developing colorectal cancer, and also built the first breast cancer risk prediction model for Chinese women that incorporated both genetic susceptibility markers and traditional risk factors. Dr. Shu has authored or co-authored approximately 700 research papers in peer-reviewed life science journals.