Hao Zhu, M.D. Titles and Appointments Director, Tissue Regeneration Program, Children's Research Institute Professor Endowed Title The Nancy B. and Jake L. Hamon Distinguished Chair in Therapeutic Oncology Research School Medical School Department Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern | Internal Medicine | Pediatrics Graduate Programs Cancer Biology, Genetics, Development and Disease You have reached the Academic Profile. For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile. Biography Hao Zhu, M.D., is a Professor in the Children's Medical Center Research Institute (CRI) at UT Southwestern, and a member of its Division of Hematology and Oncology. He holds the Nancy B. and Jake L. Hamon Distinguished Chair in Therapeutic Oncology Research. Dr. Zhu holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Duke University and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed internal medicine residency training at the University of California San Francisco and fellowship training in oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He then performed postdoctoral research at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he explored connections among RNA biology, cancer, and regeneration in mouse models. Dr. Zhu joined the UT Southwestern faculty 2012, the same year he received a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists and a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar Award. In 2016, he received a Stand Up to Cancer Innovative Research Grant. He serves as Director of the CRI Tissue Regeneration Program and a co-leader of the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center Development and Cancer Research Program. He is also an attending physician in the Multidisciplinary Liver Cancer Clinic at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The Zhu laboratory investigates how injury, regeneration, and wound healing shape organ function and cancer development, using the liver as a model system. Their research focuses on the role of somatic mosaicism in chronic liver disease and cancer, employing human genomics, in vivo genetic screening, and lineage tracing to uncover mechanisms driving these processes. Education Medical School Harvard Medical School (2005) Residency University of California, San Francisco (2007), Internal Medicine Fellowship Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (2011), Hematology Oncology Research Interest Chronic liver disease In vivo genetic screening Liver cancer Liver regeneration Mechanisms of organ regeneration Publications Featured Publications Somatic mutations in TBX3 promote hepatic clonal expansion by accelerating VLDL secretion. Mannino G, Quinn G, Zhu M, Wang Z, Wang X, Li B, Hsieh MH, Mathews T, Zacharias L, Gu W, Gopal P, Brzozowska N, Campbell P, Hoare M, Liszczak G, Zhu H, J Clin Invest 2025 Jul Somatic loss-of-function mutations in CIDEB reduce hepatic steatosis by increasing lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation. Zeng Q, Patel S, Wang X, Hsieh MH, Li Z, Ren X, Wang J, Kim D, Li S, Gu X, Mannino G, Maggiore G, Fang X, Li L, Zhu M, Wang M, Li B, Bellary A, Lim K, Qi Z, Pushpa P, Mandour MO, Saudek V, Sharma T, Zhang Y, Hoxhaj G, Mishra P, Gopal P, Campbell P, Hoare M, Savage DB, Zhu H, J Hepatol 2025 Jul PKD1 mutant clones within cirrhotic livers inhibit steatohepatitis without promoting cancer. Zhu M, Wang Y, Lu T, Guo J, Li L, Hsieh MH, Gopal P, Han Y, Fujiwara N, Wallace DP, Yu ASL, Fang X, Ransom C, Verschleisser S, Hsiehchen D, Hoshida Y, Singal AG, Yopp A, Wang T, Zhu H, Cell Metab 2024 Jun Pkd1l1-deficiency drives biliary atresia through ciliary dysfunction in biliary epithelial cells. Lim YZ, Zhu M, Wang Y, Sharma T, Kelley S, Oertling E, Zhu H, Corbitt N, J Hepatol 2024 Mar IGFBP2 expressing midlobular hepatocytes preferentially contribute to liver homeostasis and regeneration. Lin YH, Wei Y, Zeng Q, Wang Y, Pagani CA, Li L, Zhu M, Wang Z, Hsieh MH, Corbitt N, Zhang Y, Sharma T, Wang T, Zhu H, Cell Stem Cell 2023 May 30 5 665-676.e4 Positive selection of somatically mutated clones identifies adaptive pathways in metabolic liver disease. Wang Z, Zhu S, Jia Y, Wang Y, Kubota N, Fujiwara N, Gordillo R, Lewis C, Zhu M, Sharma T, Li L, Zeng Q, Lin YH, Hsieh MH, Gopal P, Wang T, Hoare M, Campbell P, Hoshida Y, Zhu H, Cell 2023 Apr 186 9 1968-1984.e20 In vivo CRISPR screening identifies BAZ2 chromatin remodelers as druggable regulators of mammalian liver regeneration. Jia Y, Li L, Lin YH, Gopal P, Shen S, Zhou K, Yu X, Sharma T, Zhang Y, Siegwart DJ, Ready JM, Zhu H, Cell Stem Cell 2022 Jan Liver homeostasis is maintained by midlobular zone 2 hepatocytes. Wei Y, Wang YG, Jia Y, Li L, Yoon J, Zhang S, Wang Z, Zhang Y, Zhu M, Sharma T, Lin YH, Hsieh MH, Albrecht JH, Le PT, Rosen CJ, Wang T, Zhu H, Science 2021 02 371 6532 Somatic Mutations Increase Hepatic Clonal Fitness and Regeneration in Chronic Liver Disease. Zhu M, Lu T, Jia Y, Luo X, Gopal P, Li L, Odewole M, Renteria V, Singal AG, Jang Y, Ge K, Wang SC, Sorouri M, Parekh JR, MacConmara MP, Yopp AC, Wang T, Zhu H, Cell 2019 Apr The Polyploid State Plays a Tumor-Suppressive Role in the Liver. Zhang S, Zhou K, Luo X, Li L, Tu HC, Sehgal A, Nguyen LH, Zhang Y, Gopal P, Tarlow BD, Siegwart DJ, Zhu H Dev. Cell 2018 Feb Results 1-10 of 39 1 2 3 4 Next Last Honors & Awards NIDDKElucidating chronic liver disease pathways using somatic genetics (2025) Mark Foundation Emerging Leader Award (2021-2024) SU2C Innovative Research Grant (2016-2019) Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists (2012) Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar (2012) Professional Associations/Affiliations Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (2012) Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation (2018)
