Hui-Wen Lo, PhD

Biography

Dr. Hui-Wen Lo is a tenured professor and the Director of the Metastatic Brain Tumor Research Program. She is a basic and translational cancer biologist with more than 30 years of experience in conducting cancer-related studies. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, and her innovative research and scientific discoveries have led to two patents and one clinical trial. As a nationally and internationally recognized cancer scientist, Dr. Lo has been invited to speak and participate in many grant review panels for the NIH, DoD and agencies worldwide and to serve on several journal editorial boards.

Over the past 16 years, her laboratory has been continuously funded by NIH and DoD grants, as well as funding from private foundations.

Throughout her academic career, Dr. Lo has had many leadership roles at the departmental and institutional levels. In addition to being a seasoned cancer researcher and a leader, Dr. Lo is committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists – including graduate students, medical students, physician scientists, and junior faculty.

Dr. Lo received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Her PhD dissertation was titled “Signaling pathways in the transcriptional and post-translational regulation of the human glutathione S-transferase P1 gene in human glioblastoma.”

Prior to her PhD studies, Dr. Lo obtained a master of arts degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin, and a master of science degree in Biomedical Sciences from UTHealth Houston. Her MS thesis was focused on molecular cloning and structural characterization of hGSTP1*C, an allelic human pi class glutathione S-transferase gene variant from human glioblastoma. Dr. Lo conducted her NCI- and ACS-funded postdoctoral fellowship followed by an Instructor position at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center where she investigated the impact of novel EGFR signaling on breast cancer.

Dr. Lo started her independent academic career at Duke University School of Medicine and NCI-designated Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2006 as a tenure-track assistant professor. While at Duke, Dr. Lo excelled not only in publications but also in her extramural funding from the NCI, DoD, and private foundations, with more than $3 million dollars of funding. She was promoted to a tenure-track associate professor in 2000 and continued to make breakthrough discoveries. In 2014, Dr. Lo was recruited to Wake Forest School of Medicine and NCI-designated Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center as a tenured associate professor. Four years later in 2018, she was promoted to professor with tenure. At Wake Forest, Dr. Lo demonstrated herself as an outstanding educator, mentor, researcher, and leader. She has trained many graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and physician scientists. Some of these individuals successfully obtained NIH funding, faculty positions, and industry positions.

In addition to her roles as a mentor and principal investigator, she served as an executive leader in the NCI-designated Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center. As the Associate Director for Shared Resources Management and Associate Director for Basic Sciences, Dr. Lo helped to bolster the research programs and obtain successful renewal of the NCI Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) for the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In 2022, Dr. Lo joined the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery in the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston as a tenured professor. She leads the Metastatic Brain Tumor Research Program as the inaugural director. At UTHealth Houston, Dr. Lo expands her research program in primary and metastatic CNS malignancies, as well as metastatic breast cancer. Her research program continues to be highly collaborative and multi-dimensional with a high potential for clinical translation.