Dr. Xue Qin Yu is an honourable Editorial Board Member of Annals of Cancer Epidemiology (Ann Cancer Epidemiol; ACE; ISSN: 2616-4213) and has recently participated in a focused issue under the theme of “Global cancer burden”. Fascinated about the area of cancer epidemiology, Dr. Yu and his research team has spent years in conducting various population-based analyses on the major cancers both in Australia and China. This time, we are honoured to interview Dr. Yu to share with our readers some of his most important research findings and another inspiring cause that he has recently initiated.