Shou-Jiang (S.J.) Gao, Ph.D. is the Program Leader of the Tumor Virology Program at the Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute. He is a Professor of the Departments of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Immunology, Medicine, and Molecular Medicine, and a member of the San Antonio Cancer Institute (a National Institute of Health designated Cancer Center). Dr. Gao has been at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio since 1997. Dr. Gao obtained his Ph.D. in Virology and Microbiology from the University of Bordeaux, France in 1993. His Postdoctoral studies were at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1993-1994), and College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York (1994-1997).
Dr. Gao is an American Cancer Society Research Scholar and a former recipient of the American Society of Microbiology ICAAC Young Investigator Award . He is also an Honorable Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Institute of Virology, and South China Agricultural University. Dr. Gao has served on several scientific grant review committees for the National Institute of Health and other funding agencies. In the past ten years, Dr. Gao's research program has been focusing on tumor viruses with emphasis on Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV), the most recently discovered human herpesvirus. KSHV is the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a vascular spindle malignancy of endothelial cells commonly found in patients with AIDS in Western countries, and in both adult and pediatric patients with cancers in Africa . Dr. Gao has made seminal contributions to the understanding of molecular pathogenesis and epidemiology of KSHV infection. Some of his early KSHV studies have been recognized as “Classic” or “Collections” by the prestiges journals, Nature Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Gao’s laboratory has been at the forefront of KSHV field.
The recent development of an efficient genetic manipulation and infection system by his laboratory has enabled the use of a comprehensive genetic, genomic, molecular, cellular, and biochemical approach for the study of KSHV gene functions and pathogenesis that could ultimately lead to the development of effective therapeutic and preventive approaches for KSHV-related malignancies.
Dr. Gao is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.