Won Jae Huh

Won Jae Huh, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine, specializing in gastrointestinal and liver pathology. He directs the Huh Lab and the Gastric Cancer Prevention and Screening Lab, focusing on cellular changes in pre-cancerous stomach lesions and mucosal injuries. Dr. Huh joined Yale in 2021 after serving as an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

• MD: Seoul National University College of Medicine (2002)
• PhD: Washington University in St. Louis, Developmental Biology (2010)
• Residency: Anatomic Pathology at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2014)
• Fellowship: Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (2016)

Dr. Huh's research explores how stomach cells transform in response to injury or disease, with particular focus on transcriptional regulation of gastric cell differentiation. His work investigates EGFR and Notch signaling crosstalk in gastric premalignant conditions and the role of testosterone in regulating epidermal growth factor receptor protein levels in the liver. His research aims to uncover pathways that could lead to new treatments for gastric cancers and liver diseases, with special interest in understanding why certain conditions affect men and women differently.

His recent publications reveal strong focus on gastric adenocarcinoma, autoimmune atrophic gastritis, and molecular mechanisms of gastric metaplasia. His work combines clinical pathology with molecular biology approaches to understand early tumorigenesis. The research spans from basic mechanisms of cell differentiation to clinical studies of gastric pathology specimens.

• NIDDK Clinical Scientist Career Development Award recipient

Dr. Huh leads the Huh Lab at Yale, which investigates signal pathways regulating tissue regeneration and early tumorigenesis. His lab has received grant funding supporting research on gastric cancer prevention and screening. He collaborates extensively with researchers across Yale, including Cindy Khanh Nguyen, Edward Manning, Francis Lee, and Hong-Jai Park on various gastrointestinal pathology projects. His research aims to discover new therapeutics that can facilitate regeneration and prevent tumor formation.

Dr. Huh maintains active research programs in both gastric cancer and liver pathology, with his team developing new approaches to understand the molecular basis of gastric premalignant conditions and their progression to cancer.