Zhikai Chi

Dr. Zhikai Chi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) School of Medicine. He completed his undergraduate studies at Peking University and medical training at Peking Union Medical College. His doctoral research at Johns Hopkins University focused on neuroprotection mechanisms, with publications in high-impact journals like Cell and Nature Medicine. After postdoctoral training in pathology at Indiana University and Cedars Sinai Medical Center, he joined UTSW in 2018.

His research interests center on the clinicopathological, immunohistochemical, and molecular characterization of gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and liver neoplasms, as well as inflammatory diseases. He collaborates with basic scientists on gastrointestinal and pancreatic disease studies and co-leads NIH-funded projects. Key areas include diagnostic challenges in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, molecular markers for tumor differentiation (e.g., INSM1, PAX8), and AI-driven medical imaging analysis (e.g., cell segmentation pipelines).

Notable publications include work on mucinous cholangiocarcinoma variants, deep learning for tissue segmentation (Nat Commun), and GATA3's prognostic role in esophageal carcinoma. His clinical focus includes intraoperative frozen section analysis for pancreatic resections and novel therapeutic targets like phosphodiesterase 4D inhibition.

Dr. Chi actively promotes collaborative research, emphasizing translational applications of molecular pathology and AI in diagnostics. His work bridges clinical pathology with basic science to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes in gastrointestinal malignancies.