Huachun is a trained epidemiologist and statistician, with extensive expertise in the epidemiology of HIV, HPV, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). He completed his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Melbourne in 2013. Between 2013 and 2015 he worked at Burnet Institute (Research Assistant), Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC, Research Fellow), School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales (UNSW, Research Associate), and the National Cheng Kung University Medical School, Taiwan (NCKU, Visiting Scholar). He then worked at Kirby Institute, UNSW as Research Fellow after receiving an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship. He is now serving as Professor and Head of the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China, and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Kirby Institute, UNSW.

Zou conducts high-quality research on HIV/STIs. He has over 170 publications in leading peer-reviewed academic journals (Lancet Infectious Diseases, Lancet Global Health, BMJ, Cancer, etc), the majority of which were first/senior/corresponding authored. He has been principal investigator on over 15 research grants funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), etc. His research was among the first to 1) elucidate the natural history of HPV in teenage men who have sex with men (MSM); 2) clarify the association between circumcision and HIV/STI infection among MSM; 3) increase retesting rate for HIV/STIs among MSM; 4) understand the difference in HIV risk between MSM playing different roles in anal sex and summarize the characteristics of MSM who use GSN apps. These findings have been/are being translated into health policies that foster effective HIV/STI interventions in Australia, China, and beyond. His research findings have been cited in the Preventing HIV Through Safe Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for Adolescent Boys and Men in Generalized HIV Epidemics-Recommendations and Key Considerations issued by the World Health Organization in 2020, and the Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021. His papers have been cited over 3700 times. He has given over 50 oral presentations and over 100 poster presentations at regional and international academic conferences (AIDS, IAS, ISSTDR, IUSTI, IPVC, etc).