Joseph Wu

Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD, Simon H. Stertzer, MD Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Radiology; Director, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (CVI), Stanford University School of Medicine

Research Description: Dr. Wu’s research in cardiovascular biology and medicine has focused on the areas of (i) disease modeling, (ii) precision medicine, (iii) pharmacogenomics and drug discovery, (iv) stem cell biology, and (v) cardiovascular clinical trials. Using diverse approaches including molecular and cellular biology, genetics, tissue engineering, and molecular imaging technologies, his group has made seminal discoveries in these areas related to cardiovascular medicine. Building on these successes, his group has further launched efforts to investigate areas related to diabetes, including patient-specific myocardial and endothelial response to diabetic drugs. In particular, patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derivatives are being used to explore pharmacogenomics and to accelerate drug discovery in diabetes. As CVI director, Dr. Wu sponsored several SDRC projects in the Pilot and Feasibility Award competition. He is also PI of a Stanford T32 grant on cardiovascular imaging, which has also supported diabetes research by Stanford trainees. Dr. Wu serves on the SDRC Executive Committee.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford DRC Members in BOLD):

  1. Kim JB, Prunicki M, Haddad F, Dant C, Sampath V, Patel R, Smith E, Akdis C, Balmes J, Snyder MP, Wu JC, Nadeau KC. Cumulative Lifetime Burden of Cardiovascular Disease From Early Exposure to Air Pollution. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020 Mar 17;9(6):e014944. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.119.014944. PMID: 32174249; PMCID: PMC7335506. 

  2. Paik DT, Chandy M, Wu JC. Patient and Disease-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Discovery of Personalized Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapeutics. Pharmacol Rev. 2020 Jan;72(1):320-342. doi: 10.1124/pr.116.013003. PMID: 31871214; PMCID: PMC6934989. 

  3. Lee WH, Ong SG, Zhou Y, Tian L, Bae HR, Baker N, Whitlatch A, Mohammadi L, Guo H, Nadeau KC, Springer ML, Schick SF, Bhatnagar A, Wu JC. Modeling Cardiovascular Risks of E-Cigarettes With Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial Cells. J Am Coll Cardiol 2019; 73(21): 2722-2737. PMID: 31146818. [SDRC P&F]