Song Guo Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., Chair Professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine

Dean, School of Cell & Gene Therapy

Principal Investigator, State Key Laboratory of Immunotherapy

Email：Song.Zheng@shsmu.edu.cn

Research focus: Development and function of regulatory T cells; Biology of Mesenchymal stem cells;  Autoimmune Diseases and Oncoimmunology

Educational Experience

1979—1984，Anhui Medical University，B.S. degree；

1989—1992，Fudan University，Master degree；

2008—2011，University of Orléans/France National Center for Scientific Research，Ph.D. degree；

Professional Experience

1993—1998, Assistant Professor, Director of Laboratory of Immunology and Pathology, Department of Pathology, Cancer Hospital;

1998—1999, Associate Professor, Director of Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cancer Hospital, Shanghai Medical University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;

1999—2000, Visiting Scientist, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA;

2000—2002, Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology,

Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA;

2002—2003，Visiting Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology,

Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA;

2004—2008, Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology,

Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA;

2009—2013, Associate Professor, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology,

Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA;

2013—2018，Full Professor of Medicine (tenure) and Director, Rheumatology Research, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Penn State University Hershey College of Medicine;

2018—2022, Ronald L. Whisler Chair in Rheumatology and Immunology, Professor of

Internal Medicine (tenure) and Director of Rheumatology and Immunology Research,

Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine,

Ohio State University College of Medicine and Wexner Medical Center;

2023—present, Chair Professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine;

Dean, School of Cell & Gene Therapy; Principal Investigator, State Key Laboratory of Immunotherapy.

Academic achievements and honors

Dr. Zheng is recognized internationally as the discoverer and pioneer of inducible regulatory T cells (iTregs) and one of the pioneers in gingival stem cell research.

He is an elected Fellow of the Henry Kunkel Society, an elite international society of immunologists. Formerly, he was the Ronald L. Whisler Endowed Chair Professor and Director of the Rheumatology and Immunology Center at the Ohio State University. He is a National Overseas High-Level Talent Distinguished Expert and the recipient of the National Natural Science Foundation's Outstanding Overseas Young Scholar Award.

He currently serves as the President of the Basic Immunology Committee of the Asia-Pacific Society of Biomedical Immunology, Chairman of the Biological Therapy Committee of the China Health Management Association, Vice Chairman of the Hypoxia and Biology Committee of the China Anti-Cancer Association, and Chairman of the Songjiang Science and Technology Association. He has also served as the President and Secretary-General of the Chinese American Immunologists Association (2008-2023) and a member of the Rheumatology, Dermatology, and Gastroenterology Committee of the International Union of Clinical Immunology (2010-2015). He was formerly a Professor at Fudan University and the Academic Director of the Institute of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergic Diseases at Fudan University.

He has published over 230 high-impact papers (18 papers with an IF between 20-50, 49 papers with an IF between 10-20), cited over 20,000 times, with an H-index over 80. He has published four English-language medical monographs and contributed to numerous other English medical books.

He has led several major NIH projects (including multiple R01, R33, R43, R61, P30, STAR grants), key research and development projects of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and several National Key Laboratory and National Natural Science Foundation projects.

He has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Baogang Education Award, the James R. Klinenberg Award for Best Immunologist in Southern California, the National Natural Science Foundation’s Outstanding Overseas Young Scholar Award, the Freda Newton Memorial Scholar Award from the Arthritis Foundation, the Dona Foundation Immunologist Award from the International Union of Clinical Immunology, the ACR Distinguished Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology, the NIH STAR Award, the Edmund Dubois Award for Best Rheumatologist in the Asia-Pacific Region, the Outstanding Clinical Immunologist Award of the Greater Bay Area, the Outstanding Scientist Award from the Father of Science and Hospital president award from Songjiang Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

He has also received the Fellow Award from the U.S. National Arthritis Foundation (2004), the Distinguished Researcher Award from the American College of Rheumatology (2008), and was elected as a Fellow of the Henry Kunkel Society in 2012. He is a recipient of the National Distinguished Expert Award (2014), Guangdong Province Leading Talent Expert Award (2017), Guangdong Province Medical Leading Talent Expert Award (2018), Nanshan Scholar Award (2018), and has held the Ronald Whisler Endowed Chair Professorship at Ohio State University (2018). He has been continuously listed among the world's top scientists and recognized for lifetime academic impact.

He has served as Chair of the NIH MOSS study section R01 Grant Review Panel, and is a member of the California Stem Cell Foundation Expert Group. He is a reviewer for national foundations in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Poland, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, South Africa, and nine other countries. He is also a reviewer for China’s National Natural Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Technology’s 863 Program, National 125 Major Projects, National Natural Science Awards, top talent programs, andd others.

He serves as Editor-in-Chief of American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Immunology, Associate Editor of MedComm and Frontiers in Immunology, and on the editorial boards of Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews, Cellular & Molecular Immunology, Molecular Therapy, Journal of Molecular Cell Biology, Theranostics, and View. In 2024, he was elected Honorary Editor-in-Chief of iCELL.