Hello, my name is Wen-Hui Hu (almost like When-Why Who?). Too many questions for me.     

I was born in a small town within Chongqing Municipal, a famous Southwestern city in the mountains, located at the middle of Long River in China. Before I was born, I had tasted very hot and spicy Chinese food, the world-known SiChuan Food. That's why I can not survive without spicy food.

At 10 years old, I was shocked by the sudden death of my grandpa, due to the lack of proper treatment to his stroke, which had been urging me to study very hard in a Medical College. I was the only one in the college who obtained the State Award of Excellent Students by National Healthy Bureau. After graduation in 1982, I started my first job as a residency doctor, and three years' clinical experiences helped me a lot in my research career.

 I started my research career when I was enrolled into TMMU as a graduate student for Master of Science in 1985. I obtained systematic training in pathophysiology and traumatic surgery. In 1993, I successfully passed through the national-level admission examination for PhD candidates and enrolled into PUMC, the top one medical colleges in China. My three years' training for PhD related to molecular neurobiology focusing on pharmacology and neuroanatomy. In 1999, I initiated my postdoctoral training in USA, focusing on molecular biology, immunology and neuroscience. Therefore, my research training involves multiple disciplines and the extensive experiences have been building up my competition for career development.

I started my faculty career in USA as Research Assistant Professor in Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2004. I moved to Temple University School of Medicine in 2008, and became Tenured Associated Professor in 2013 and Full Professor in 2021. I came back to VCU in 2023 and is Professor of Neuroscience in Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at VCU. My research was funded by National Institute of Health (10 R01s and 2 R21s) and Department of Defense since 2008 with total cost $26 million, focusing on targeted gene therapy (AAV, lentivirus-like particles and nanoparticles), CRISPR/Cas genome editing, HIV/NeuroHIV cure, neurodevelopmental disorders and gastrointestinal diseases. My new lentivirus-like particle technology that can cross BBB and deliver editors to various neural cells received NIH TARGETED Challenge Prize (Phase I) in 2023. I have published more than 130 papers in high-impact journals including PNAS, Mol Therapy, Cell Reports, JEM, JCI, Stem Cells, JBC, etc. He holds 6 patents. One of them was exclusively licensed to Excision BioTherapeutics, currently at phase 1/2 clinical trial in HIV patients. Another patent on novel coding-motif Exin21 to boost antibody/vaccine/virus production is exclusively licensed to ExinBioPharma. My papers have been cited by >7900 times with h-index 42. I directed the graduate course of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience for 12 years and participated as lectures in numerous courses for graduate students and undergraduate students in School of Medicine, Dental School, Podiatry School. In addition, I have mentored 4 senior scientists, 8 postdoctoral fellows/research associates, 8 visiting scholars, 8 graduate students, 20 undergraduate students and 4 high school students. Most of trainees went to academic institutes, bioindustry and medical schools.

For my previous accomplishments, please read the page of Contributions. For my current projects, please refer to Research Interests.

Now I live in the Short Pump, West End, Richomnd, Virginia with my wife, Fang Li, and my daughter, Danielle.  We frequently discuss together current events and international news and watch TV or movie together.  I love traveling, whether it's across the country or to various places in the world. I enjoy all kinds of sports. I play soccer every weekend, and play cards with some friends at get-togethers over the holidays or online every weekend.  Sometimes, I play Chinese Chess or Go online.

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awards and Honors

· TARGETED Challenge Prize (Phase 1), NIH (2023)

· Lois Pope Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neuroscience, University of Miami School of Medicine (2000)

· Janet S. Lewald Fellowship in Immunology at National Jewish Medical & Research Center (1999)

· Second prize of Beijing Science and Technology Achievement (1999) for study on “Molecular mechanisms underlying dynorphin spinal neurotoxicity and analgesia”

· Second prize of Military Science and Technology Achievement(1998) for study on "The role of ischemia, excitotoxicity, lipidoxidation in secondary spinal cord injury"

· Scholarship of Chinese-American Dr. Kequan Ge (1996) for achievement in medical research

· State Award of Sichuan Higher Education for excellent college student (1982)

· Excellent graduates (1996, 1995, 1987, 1986) and students (1982, 1981, 1980) for outstanding scores