The UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) is pleased to welcome Weidong Wang, Ph.D., who will serve as an associate professor in the Department of Genetics.

Wang’s recruitment was made possible through the Strategic Faculty Recruitment Initiative in Diabetes Research, a partnership between the UCDC and the UAB Heersink School of Medicine.

Approved by leadership at UAB, the strategic recruitment initiative for the center began in spring 2022. Director Anath Shalev, M.D., says that it is an exciting time for the UCDC as it partners with different departments, institutes and the Heersink School of Medicine and embarks on this new phase of growth, which most recently brought Ananda and Rita Basu, M.D.s, as well as Fernando Bril, M.D., to UAB.

Wang joins the UCDC from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center where he was an associate professor. Wang received his Ph.D. in Genetics and Development from Columbia University and completed his postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute.

Wang has two ongoing R01 grants with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) titled “Preclinical Validation of PPARg Acetylation Inhibitors for Diabetes Prevention and Treatment” and “Developing proinsulin misfolding inhibitors for beta cell protection and diabetes treatment” through 2026 and 2027, respectively. According to Wang, the goal of the projects is to understand the pathogenesis of diabetes and obesity and to develop next-generation therapeutics for the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

Wang has multiple patents issued by USPTO and has trained multiple undergraduate and graduate research students and postdoctoral fellows. He is a member of the American Diabetes Association .

Shalev is glad that Wang will add to the expertise of the UCDC.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Wang to UAB,” said Shalev. “I look forward to his work within the Department of Genetics as well as the UCDC. His proven expertise will benefit several ongoing and new projects within diabetes research here at UAB.”