Her primary research areas include labour economics, health economics, applied econometrics, crime economics, and economics of family and children. In particular, she is interested in policy-relevant empirical research on population health and well-being. An earlier version of her research titled "Learning Violence Young" was featured in the Vancouver Sun in June 2008. In 2008, Zhang was awarded a PhD fellowship by the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network (CLSRN), funded by SSHRC.