Lishan Su, PhD Investiture Program

LISHAN SU, PHD
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Lishan Su, PhD grew up in Qingdao,
China, and received his BS in Microbiology
from Shandong University, PhD in Virology
from Harvard University, and did postdoctoral
training in Immunology at Stanford
University. Dr. Su then worked as a
research scientist in a biotech company,
focusing on HIV pathogenesis and testing
blood stem cell-based HIV-1 gene therapy
in HIV-infected patients. From 1996 to
2021, he was a faculty member in the
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
and Professor in the Department of
Microbiology & Immunology at University
For over two decades, Dr. Su has focused on studying several critical areas
of immuno-pathology of human chronic virus infections, particularly on
elucidating how HIV causes AIDS-related diseases. The Su laboratory
studies how HIV-1 and HBV interact with human immune cells to cause
diseases. His research team has focused on the plasmacytoid dendritic cell
(pDC)-interferon axis in the pathogenesis and therapy of chronic HIV
infection and Disease-Associated Macrophages (DAM)-hepatic stellate cells
in HBV-induced liver diseases in humanized mice and in patients. The team
has also started investigation of the pathways in tumor microenvironments
(TME) and in cancer immune therapy. After joining The Institute of Human
Virology at UMSOM, Dr. Su continued his research program to use HIV and
HBV viruses as probes to dissect human immunity and inflammatory
diseases, and to develop antibody and cell-based drugs targeting novel
immune cells and signaling pathways to treat human inflammatory diseases
including virus infection and cancer. He has also trained over 40 postdoc/
visiting scholars and 20 graduate students from 8 different countries.
Dr. Su has served on grant review committees for US/European and Chinese
funding agencies for over 20 years, and as associate editor or on editorial
boards of several journals. For the past 20 years, Dr. Su has also interacted
with US and international institutions, including providing advice and to
evaluate progress to biomedical research institutes and centers. He has also
received several awards over the years, including election as a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, and the
Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professorship for HIV Research in 2021.