Alcohol and HIV/AIDS; Alcohol and infectious disease (including viral hepatitis and HIV); Alcohol-associated Liver Disease; Alcohol use-related pathophysiology of the immune system

Dr. H. Joe Wang’s portfolio of grants is centered on the role of alcohol-immune interaction in pathogen infections and organ injury.   This portfolio of grants include basic, translational, and clinical research topics on: 1) disease progression and complications in HIV and HCV single or co-infection; 2) lung and systemic bacterial infections; 3) gut microbiome and barrier dysfunction and liver injury in the development of alcoholic liver disease. 

Dr. Wang joined the NIAAA’s Division of Metabolism and Health Effects in 2007. Besides being a program director in the division, he is also a member of two trans-NIAAA working teams on ‘Research Centers and Training’ and on ‘Biomarker Development’. In addition, Dr. Wang is the contact person representing NIAAA on three NIH-wide activities: 1) AREA (R15) funding mechanism, 2) NIH-viral hepatitis group; 3) NIH Office of Dietary Supplement (ODS).

 Dr. Wang received a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from The Ohio State University, and did a postdoc training in the Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, at University of California, San Francisco. He then worked as an assistant professor at Michigan State University and studied telomere and DNA damage repair. Prior to joining NIAAA, Dr. Wang worked as a microbiologist at USDA’s Foreign Animal Disease Center and studied viral-host interaction.