Gheens Foundation Inc. Chair in Aging Research
School of Medicine
Eugenia Wang, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. An internationally known specialist in how genetics affects aging. She is also director of the Gheens Center on Aging, established in the School of Medicine with a $2.5 million gift from the Gheens Foundation.
Wang’s research focuses on investigating the genetic mechanisms that may cause pre-disposition to infectious diseases, using microarray technology, proteomic profiling and several other high-throughput enabling platforms to study the genetic factors controlling how people respond to environmental exposures and the molecular mechanisms of wound healing, including response to microgravity and radiation. Her work has applications for understanding the molecular mechanisms that control the aging process and age-dependent diseases.
Among her awards are the National Institute on Aging’s Merit Award, the MRC Scientist Award from the Medical Research Council of Canada and the American Aging Association’s Research Award. She also is a fellow in the Gerontological Society of America. She is one of four biologists to serve on the NASA Lunar Exploration Task Force.
Wang is the editor or author of numerous books and publications and the holder of several patents. She lectures at conferences worldwide and plays a leadership role in many professional organizations, including the Gordon Conference on the Biology of Aging, thee Gerontological Society of America, the National Institute on Aging, the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Federation for Aging Research. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and she is a co-investigator on the $22 million grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases that will establish UofL's Center for Predictive Medicine.
Wang received her bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University, her master’s from Northern Michigan University and her Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve. She did postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University, lead the Bloomfield Center for Research on Aging and taught at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.