Mei Wan

MEI WAN, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery where she serves on the Associate Professor Promotion Committee, and serves as the departmental research safety officer.

Dr. Wan joined the department in 2009 and has had continuous independent research funding. She earned her undergraduate degrees and Ph.D. at Hebei Medical University in China in pathologic basis of disease, then completed post-doctoral research and education in cancer biology (pancreatic cancer and breast cancer) and bone biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She has been recognized extensively both nationally and internationally. In addition to Dr. Wan’s powerful research line in the molecular bases for arthritis, her research is uniquely qualified to realize the purpose of this professorship to investigate mechanisms of bone disease in cancer & osteoporosis. Dr. Wan collaborates with cancer biologists at Johns Hopkins Medicine-Hematology/Oncology on a project related to how bone cell-secreted angiogenesis factors and cytokines affect tumorigenesis.

Dr. Wan has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, with 18 directly relevant to cancer. The impact of Dr. Wan’s research extends across different disciplines as testified by her publication record, which includes papers in Nature Communications, Journal Clinical Investigation, Gene & Development, PNAS, eLife, Stem Cells, Stem Cell Development, Bone Research, Science Signaling, etc. Dr. Wan has chaired multiple sessions at annual meetings of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and the International Conference on Tissue Science and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Wan has served on the editorial boards of two leading skeletal-related journals, the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and Bone Research. Since 2021, she serves on the Reviewing Editor Board of eLife. Dr. Wan served as a standing committee member on the VA ENDB study section and is currently a standing member on NIH SBSR study section. She consistently presents her work externally and internally through lectures to post-doc fellows, students, and residents. She is an active mentor and coach for students and post-doc fellows. She has received three cancer research grants from NIH and American Cancer Society as a PI or Co-PI. Her current research mainly focuses on the mechanisms underlying skeletal disorders and cancer development.