Dr. Wenhui Feng

Biography

Note: Dr. Feng is accepting new research assistants. The Feng lab’s research focuses on healthy eating and retail, as well as social safety net programs such as SNAP. Please email wenhui.feng@uri.edu if interested.

Dr. Wenhui Feng is a public policy researcher focused on food and health policies. Her research employs policy analysis methods to examine various health policies. She primarily focuses on obesity-related policies, including menu labeling and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Her current work evaluates the role that dollar stores play in the food retail landscape, the household-level food acquisition and dietary quality, administrative burden of social safety-net programs, and regulatory policy making.

Dr. Feng is an associate editor of Frontiers in Nutrition, Food Policy and Economics.

Education

  • Ph.D., University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Master of Public Policy, Arizona State University 
  • Bachelor of Management Science, South China University of Technology

Selected Publications

  • Fox, A.; Feng, W.; Reynolds, M. Which US States are Most Generous in their Medicaid Policies and Why? (In press) Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.
  • Feng, W., Page, E. T., Sun, B., & Cash, S. B. (2025). The Healthfulness of Foods Purchased at Dollar Stores: Insights from Household Scanner Data from 2008 to 2020. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 125(11), 1736-1745.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2025.07.001
  • Feng, W., Barry, N., Mazure, M., Page., E., Blumenthal, C., Cash, S. B. Dollar Stores as Food Retailers in the United States: A Scoping Review. Preventive Medicine, 196 (2025) 108295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2025.108295
  • Feng, W., Fromkin, H., Harney, J. B., Evans, R., Gerrity, C. M., & Cash, S. B. (2024). Perspective: Food Access at Dollar Stores and its Implications for Public Health: Report of a Workshop on Identifying Research Priorities. Advances in Nutrition, 100319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100319
  • Feng, W., Page, E. T., & Cash, S. B. (2023). Dollar Stores and Food Access for Rural Households in the United States, 2008‒2020. American Journal of Public Health, 113(3), 331–336. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.307193
  • Fox, A., Feng, W., Reynolds, M. (2022) The Effect of Administrative Burden on State Safety-Net Participation: Evidence from SNAP, TANF and Medicaid. Public Administration Review. 1– 18. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13497
  • Fox, A., Choi, Y., Feng, W. (2022) Is Ideology Bad for Our Health? Why Political Partisanship Should be Routinely Asked on Population Health Surveys. Health Affairs Forefront. https://doi.org/10.1377/forefront.20220118.990519
  • Feng, W., & Fox, A. M. (2022). What’s the Hold Up? The FDA’s Delayed Implementation of Menu-Labeling Policy. Administration & Society, 54(6), 1045–1088. https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997211050308
  • Feng, W. (2022). The Effects of Changing SNAP Work Requirement on the Health and Employment Outcomes of Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents. Journal of the American Nutrition Association, 41(3), 281–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2021.1879692
  • Fox, A., Stazyk, E., Feng, W. (2020) Administrative Easing: Rule Reduction and Medicaid Enrollment. Public Administration Review, 80:1. org/10.1111/puar.13131