​Professor Wang obtained his training in molecular genetics and cell biology from Baylor College of Medicine, and conducted post-doctoral research in neurobiology and cardiovascular diseases at The Scripps Research Institute and UC, San Diego. 

Since 1998, Professor Wang’s laboratory has focused on genetic network and molecular basis of cardiovascular physiology and diseases. Professor Wang’s lab has a long track record in discovering novel components and novel interactions in stress-signal transduction pathways in mammalian cells through biochemical, proteomic, molecular and genomic approaches. Recently, Professor Wang’s lab has also employed systems-based approach in gene and pathway discovery for cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Professor Wang’s lab has established a broad spectrum of research approaches in cardiac biology, from molecular biology, cell physiology to intact heart physiology, genomics and systems biology. 

Professor Wang has been supported by NIH, DoD and other extramural grants throughout his research career and published more than 240 scientific articles. Professor Wang served as the Chair of Cardiovascular Theme at UCLA from 2015 to 2019, a new initiative to build an integrated Cardiovascular Medicine and Research infrastructure at UCLA. Professor Wang has four licensed patents and is a scientific founder of a biotech start-up. In addition to being the PI of a 12 people research team, Professor Wang is also actively engaged in teaching and education, served as the Education Director for UCLA Cardiovascular Research Laboratories and vice Chair of UCLA Molecular, Cellular and Integrated Physiology Ph.D. programme.

• PhD (Texas, USA) (1993)
• MBBS (New York, USA) (1988)

• ​ISHR Southeast Asia Council Member (2024 – Present)
• Professor (Joint Appointment), Department of Physiology with an affiliation to the Cardiovascular Disease Translational Research Program in Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore (2023 – Present)
• Research Director (Joint Appointment), Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore (2023 – Present)
• Co-Director, SingHealth Duke-NUS Regenerative Medicine Institute of Singapore (REMEDIS) (2023 – Present)
• Co-Director, National Heart Research Institute of Singapore & Senior PI, National Heart Center of Singapore, Cardiovascular Academic Clinical Program, SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC) (2022 – Present)
• Professor and Director, Signature Program in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical, Singapore (2022 – Present)
• Professor, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina (2022 – Present)
• Qiu-shi Scholar and Adjunct Visiting Professor, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China (2018 – Present)
• ISHR Council Member at large from North American Section (2019 – Present)
• AHA BCVS Leadership Council (2017 – 2020)
• ISHR North American Section Nomination Committee (2015 – 2017)
• AHA BCVS Nomination Committee (2014 – 2016)
• AHA CSSP Member at Large (2013 – 2017)
• Member, Basic Cardiovascular Science Council Leadership Committee (2010 – 2012)
• Chair, CSSP Science Program Committee (2010 – 2012)
• Elected Chair for ISHR Interest Group for Signaling (2009 – 2011)
• Executive Council Member (2012 – 2015)
• Council Member of ISHR North American Section (2008 – 2015)
• Member, Academy of Cardiovascular Research Excellence (2005 – Present)
• Member, America Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2005 – Present)
• Member, New York Academy of Science (2004 – Present)
  
• Member, Heart Failure Society of America (2003 – Present)
• Member, International Society of Heart Failure Research (2002 – Present)
  
• Member, American Physiology Society (2002 – Present)
  
• Program Committee Member, American Heart Association (2008 – 2010)
• Member, Basic Science Council, American Heart Association (1998 – Present)
• Member, Association of Advancement of American Sciences (1993 – Present)
  
  

• ​World’s Top 2% High Impact Scientists in Biology and Medicine by Research.com and Stanford University (2023)
• President’s Basic Research Award, American Heart Association, USA (2023)
• Life Science Excellence in Educational Innovation Award for a Tenured Professor, UCLA (2021)
• International Society of Heart Research, North American Section Medal of Honor (2021)
• Qiu-shi Scholar, Zhejiang University (2018)
• Thomas Smith Lecturer, American Heart Association Scientific Conferences 2016 (2016)
• Fellow of International Society of Heart Research, FISHR (2015)
• Honorary Professor, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China (2013)
• Research Consultant, Zhejiang University 2nd Affiliated Hospital Heart Research Center, Zhejiang, China (2013)
• Superior Editorial Consultant, Circulation Research (2012 – 2023)
• Fellow of American Heart Association, FAHA (2011 – Present)
• Visiting Professor, Medical University of South Carolina (2011)
• Platinum Superior Editorial Consultant, Circulation Research (2010 & 2011)
• Chang-Jiang Scholar Visiting Professorship, Ministry of Education, China (2009)
• Superior Editorial Consultant, Circulation Research (2009)
• Established Investigator Award, American Heart Association (2005)
• Guident Foundation Visiting Professorship, Case Western Reserve University (2004)
• Finalist, Research Award of Basic Science Council, AHA (2002)
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award in Cardiac Hypertrophy (1997)
• Visiting Scholarship Award. Chinese Natural Science Foundation (1994)
• Student Scholarship Award. Association of Chinese American in Biosciences (1993)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute Pre-doctoral Fellowship (1989 – 1990)
• First Degree Academic Award, Fudan University (1985 – 1986)
  

• ​Discovering novel components in stress signal transduction networks
• Establishing functional and molecular links among signaling pathways
• Translating mechanistic insights into novel therapies in disease models of heart failure and metabolic disorders
• Field of heart failure research and basic signal transduction
  

1. Liao P, Georgakopoulos D, Kovacs A, Zheng M, Lerner D, Pu H, Saffitz J, Chien K, Xiao RP, Kass DA, Wang Y. The in vivo role of p38 MAP kinases in cardiac remodeling and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2001;98(21):12283-8. Epub 2001/10/11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.211086598. PubMed PMID: 11593045; PMCID: PMC59806
2. Sun H, Olson KC, Gao C, Prosdocimo DA, Zhou M, Wang Z, Jeyaraj D, Youn JY, Ren S, Liu Y, Rau CD, Shah S, Ilkayeva O, Gui WJ, William NS, Wynn RM, Newgard CB, Cai H, Xiao X, Chuang DT, Schulze PC, Lynch C, Jain MK, Wang Y. Catabolic Defect of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Promotes Heart Failure. Circulation. 2016;133(21):2038-49. Epub 2016/04/10. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.115.020226. PubMed PMID: 27059949; PMCID: PMC4879058
3. MacLellan WR, Wang Y, Lusis AJ. Systems-based approaches to cardiovascular disease. Nature reviews Cardiology. 2012;9(3):172-84. Epub 2012/01/11. doi: 10.1038/nrcardio.2011.208. PubMed PMID: 22231714; PMCID: PMC3823242
4. Yokota T, Li J, Huang J, Xiong Z, Zhang Q, Chan T, Ding Y, Rau C, Sung K, Ren S, Kulkarni R, Hsiai T, Xiao X, Touma M, Minamisawa S, Wang Y. p38 Mitogen-activated protein kinase regulates chamber-specific perinatal growth in heart. J Clin Invest. 2020;130(10):5287-301. Epub 2020/06/24. doi: 10.1172/JCI135859. PubMed PMID: 32573492; PMCID: PMC7524480
5. Wang Z, Zhang XJ, Ji YX, Zhang P, Deng KQ, Gong J, Ren S, Wang X, Chen I, Wang H, Gao C, Yokota T, Ang YS, Li S, Cass A, Vondriska TM, Li G, Deb A, Srivastava D, Yang HT, Xiao X, Li H, Wang Y. The long noncoding RNA Chaer defines an epigenetic checkpoint in cardiac hypertrophy. Nature medicine. 2016;22(10):1131-9. Epub 2016/09/13. doi: 10.1038/nm.4179. PubMed PMID: 27618650; PMCID: PMC5053883.
6. Gao C, Ren S, Lee JH, Qiu J, Chapski DJ, Rau CD, Zhou Y, Abdellatif M, Nakano A, Vondriska TM, Xiao X, Fu XD, Chen JN, Wang Y. RBFox1-mediated RNA splicing regulates cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. J Clin Invest. 2016;126(1):195-206. Epub 2015/12/01. doi: 10.1172/JCI84015. PubMed PMID: 26619120; PMCID: PMC4701548.
7. Gao C, Wang Y. mRNA Metabolism in Cardiac Development and Disease: Life After Transcription. Physiol Rev. 2020;100(2):673-94. Epub 20191121. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00007.2019. PubMed PMID: 31751167; PMCID: PMC7327233
8. Gao C, Ren SV, Yu J, Baal U, Thai D, Lu J, Zeng C, Yan H, Wang Y. Glucagon Receptor Antagonism Ameliorates Progression of Heart Failure. JACC Basic to translational science. 2019;4(2):161-72. Epub 2019/05/08. doi: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2018.11.001. PubMed PMID: 31061918; PMCID: PMC6488764
9. Lu G, Sun H, She P, Youn JY, Warburton S, Ping P, Vondriska TM, Cai H, Lynch CJ, Wang Y. Protein phosphatase 2Cm is a critical regulator of branched-chain amino acid catabolism in mice and cultured cells. J Clin Invest. 2009;119(6):1678-87. Epub 2009/05/05. doi: 10.1172/JCI38151. PubMed PMID: 19411760; PMCID: PMC2689111
10. Zhou M, Shao J, Wu CY, Shu L, Dong W, Liu Y, Chen M, Wynn RM, Wang J, Wang J, Gui WJ, Qi X, Lusis AJ, Li Z, Wang W, Ning G, Yang X, Chuang DT, Wang Y, Sun H. Targeting BCAA Catabolism to Treat Obesity-Associated Insulin Resistance. Diabetes. 2019;68(9):1730-46. Epub 2019/06/07. doi: 10.2337/db18-0927. PubMed PMID: 31167878; PMCID: PMC6702639
11. Petrich BG, Eloff BC, Lerner DL, Kovacs A, Saffitz JE, Rosenbaum DS, Wang Y. Targeted activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase in vivo induces restrictive cardiomyopathy and conduction defects. The Journal of biological chemistry. 2004;279(15):15330-8. Epub 2004/01/27. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M314142200. PubMed PMID: 14742426
12. Akaike T, Du N, Lu G, Minamisawa S, Wang Y, Ruan H. A Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Localized Protein Phosphatase Regulates Phospholamban Phosphorylation and Promotes Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in the Heart. JACC Basic to translational science. 2017;2(2):160-80. Epub 2017/10/24. doi: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2016.12.002. PubMed PMID: 29057374; PMCID: PMC5648354
13. Lu G, Ren S, Korge P, Choi J, Dong Y, Weiss J, Koehler C, Chen JN, Wang Y. A novel mitochondrial matrix serine/threonine protein phosphatase regulates the mitochondria permeability transition pore and is essential for cellular survival and development. Genes Dev. 2007;21(7):784-96. Epub 2007/03/22. doi: 10.1101/gad.1499107. PubMed PMID: 17374715; PMCID: PMC1838530
14. Wang JJ, Rau C, Avetisyan R, Ren S, Romay MC, Stolin G, Gong KW, Wang Y, Lusis AJ. Genetic Dissection of Cardiac Remodeling in an Isoproterenol-Induced Heart Failure Mouse Model. PLoS genetics. 2016;12(7):e1006038. Epub 2016/07/08. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006038. PubMed PMID: 27385019; PMCID: PMC4934852
15. Rau CD, Romay MC, Tuteryan M, Wang JJ, Santolini M, Ren S, Karma A, Weiss JN, Wang Y, Lusis AJ. Systems Genetics Approach Identifies Gene Pathways and Adamts2 as Drivers of Isoproterenol-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy and Cardiomyopathy in Mice. Cell systems. 2017;4(1):121-8 e4. Epub 2016/11/22. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2016.10.016. PubMed PMID: 27866946; PMCID: PMC5338604
16. Wang Y. Mitogen-activated protein kinases in heart development and diseases. Circulation. 2007;116(12):1413-23. Epub 2007/09/19. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.106.679589. PubMed PMID: 17875982; PMCID: PMC3808829
17. Lee JH, Gao C, Peng G, Greer C, Ren S, Wang Y, Xiao X. Analysis of transcriptome complexity through RNA sequencing in normal and failing murine hearts. Circulation research. 2011;109(12):1332-41. Epub 2011/10/29. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.111.249433. PubMed PMID: 22034492; PMCID: PMC3243366.
18. Zhang XJ, She ZG, Wang J, Sun D, Shen LJ, Xiang H, Cheng X, Ji YX, Huang YP, Li PL, Yang X, Cheng Y, Ma JP, Wang HP, Hu Y, Hu F, Tian S, Tian H, Zhang P, Zhao GN, Wang L, Hu ML, Yang Q, Zhu LH, Cai J, Yang J, Zhang X, Ma X, Xu Q, Touyz RM, Liu PP, Loomba R, Wang Y, Li H. Multiple omics study identifies an interspecies conserved driver for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Science translational medicine. 2021;13(624):eabg8117. Epub 20211215. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abg8117. PubMed PMID: 34910546.
19. Yokota T, McCourt J, Ma F, Ren S, Li S, Kim TH, Kurmangaliyev YZ, Nasiri R, Ahadian S, Nguyen T, Tan XHM, Zhou Y, Wu R, Rodriguez A, Cohn W, Wang Y, Whitelegge J, Ryazantsev S, Khademhosseini A, Teitell MA, Chiou PY, Birk DE, Rowat AC, Crosbie RH, Pellegrini M, Seldin M, Lusis AJ, Deb A. Type V Collagen in Scar Tissue Regulates the Size of Scar after Heart Injury. Cell. 2020;182(3):545-62 e23. Epub 20200703. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.030. PubMed PMID: 32621799; PMCID: PMC7415659
20. Touma M, Kang X, Gao F, Zhao Y, Cass AA, Biniwale R, Xiao X, Eghbali M, Coppola G, Reemtsen B, Wang Y. Wnt11 regulates cardiac chamber development and disease during perinatal maturation. JCI insight. 2017;2(17). Epub 2017/09/08. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.94904. PubMed PMID: 28878122; PMCID: PMC5621892
    

• Project RESET: Redirecting immune, lipid and metabolic drivers of early cardiovascular disease (2023 – 2028)
• Decoding the Enigma of Postnatal Cardiomyocyte Maturation (2024 –2027)