Hui-Wen Lo to lead Cell Biology and Genetics Department at the Texas A&M College of Medicine

Pioneering cancer researcher Hui-Wen Lo, PhD, has been named head of the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine, effective May 1. 

Lo is a basic and translational cancer biologist with more than 30 years of research experience and currently serves as a tenured distinguished professor in neuro-oncology, director of the metastatic brain tumor research program, and vice chair for research with the Department of Neurosurgery at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.  

Lo studies the biological mechanisms behind three aggressive human cancers, metastatic breast cancer, primary brain tumors, and brain metastases—with the goals of gaining a deeper biological understanding of the tumors and developing novel, targeted therapies for patients with these conditions. 

“We are delighted that Dr. Lo will be joining the College of Medicine faculty,” said Amy L. Waer, MD, FACS, MPSA ‘23 Jean and Tom McMullin Endowed Dean. “Her deep expertise and innovative approaches will complement and help us further leverage our priorities in patient care and research.” 

Lo has published more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, holds three patents, and led a clinical trial related to brain metastases. Her laboratory has secured more than $20 million in continuous funding by federal agencies and private foundations over the past two decades. She is a highly sought conference speaker and grant review participant for funding agencies in the United States and worldwide. She also serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals.  

Lo earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nutrition from Taiwan’s Chung Shan Medical University and the University of Texas at Austin, respectively, followed by a master’s degree in biomedical sciences, a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and a postdoctoral fellowship with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Lo held faculty positions at Duke University School of Medicine and Wake Forest School of Medicine and a senior leadership position in Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center before becoming a tenured member of the neurosurgery faculty at UTHealth Houston in 2022. She is the inaugural director of the university’s metastatic brain tumor research program and in 2024 was appointed the vice chair for research, for which she oversees 18 PhD faculty.  

She also brings extensive administrative leadership and service experience. At NCI-designated Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center, she served as the associate director for shared resources management and associate director for basic sciences, where she led three basic science programs and helped successfully renewed the NCI Cancer Center Core Grant. At UTHealth Houston, she oversees the research section of the Neurosurgery Department that ranked 4th in NIH funding among U.S. neurosurgery departments (14.1 million) in 2023, according to Blur Ridge Institute for Biomedical Research. She also chaired the brain tumor research workgroup, and her department’s promotion and tenure committee and has been a member of the MD Anderson Cancer Center community building committee and admissions committee, among many others. She has reviewed or chaired numerous NIH and U.S. Department of Defense grant review panels, as well as those for other agencies in the United States, Taiwan and Ireland. 

Her many awards and honors include the UTHealth Houston Research Excellence Awards, UT Faculty STAR Award, and American Association for Cancer Research Scholar-in-Training Award. In addition to her research expertise and leadership skills, she also brings her extensive teaching and mentoring experiences to the Texas A&M University College of Medicine.