Hao-Wei Chang, PhD

Research Interests

Dr. Chang’s Ph.D. work and subsequent studies under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Gordon have focused on tackling childhood undernutrition. Childhood undernutrition is associated with ~45% of deaths in children under the age of five. However, children with undernutrition who received the current therapeutic intervention still have long-term complications, such as stunted growth. By investigating the dynamic relationships among diet, the gut microbiota, and host physiology, Dr. Chang and colleagues developed a novel food-based intervention, Microbiome-Directed Complementary Food-2 (MDCF-2).  Compared to the conventional food-based intervention, children with undernutrition who are fed MDCF-2 exhibit better growth outcomes. This innovation has now advanced to large, multisite clinical trials supported by the World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aiming to enroll more than 6,500 children worldwide.

Dr. Chang continues to further investigate macrophage heterogeneity and intercellular communication in human adipose tissue, with the goal of uncovering immune mechanisms that regulate vascular and metabolic homeostasis in obesity.

Research Areas

Elucidate macrophage heterogeneity and intercellular communication in metabolically important tissues or organs collected from individuals with obesity using multi-omics and bioinformatic approaches.