Dr. Wu is Director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Professor in the Department of Medicine (Cardiology) and Department of Radiology (Molecular Imaging Program) at the Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Wu received his medical degree from Yale and completed his medicine residency and cardiology fellowship training followed by a PhD (molecular pharmacology) at UCLA. Dr. Wu has received several awards, including the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Career Award in Medical Sciences, Baxter Foundation Faculty Scholar Award, AHA Innovative Research Award, AHA Established Investigator Award, NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NIH Roadmap Transformative Award, and Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers given out by President Obama. He is on the editorial board of Journal Clinical Investigation, Circulation Research, Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging, JACC Imaging, Human Gene Therapy, Molecular Therapy, Stem Cell Research, and Journal of Nuclear Cardiology. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of University Cardiologists. His clinical activities involve adult congenital heart disease and cardiovascular imaging.

Dr. Wu's lab works on biological mechanisms of adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells. They use a combination of gene profiling, tissue engineering, physiological testing, and molecular imaging technologies to better understand stem cell biology in vitro and in vivo. For adult stem cells, they are interested in monitoring stem cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation. For ESC, they are currently studying their tumorigenicity, immunogenicity, and differentiation. For iPSC, they are working on novel derivation techniques. They also work on development of novel vectors and therapeutic genes for cardiovascular gene therapy applications.