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Yuesheng Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., has joined Massey Cancer Center as a research member of the developmental therapeutics program and a professor within the department of pharmacology & toxicology with the VCU School of Medicine.

Zhang comes to Massey after an 18-year stint with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y., where he served as a professor of oncology, a center research member and was principal investigator for seven NIH research project (R01) grants.

“I am fortunate and excited to have the opportunity to work at Massey,” said Zhang. “My research interests in basic and translational research align well with the objectives of the research programs at Massey Cancer Center. I see many opportunities for establishing research collaborations with members in all three of our research programs and developing integrated transdisciplinary team science.”

Zhang has had a long-standing interest in naturally occurring isothiocyanates as cancer chemopreventive agents, bladder cancer chemoprevention and the molecular basis of gender disparity in bladder cancer risk. Zhang’s research team is working to better understand prolidase regulation of EGFR, HER2 and p53 and its role in cancer prevention and treatment. The laboratory is also continuing research on protein degradation pathways in the plasma, specifically the FXII-FVII pathway, which may be highly important for development of certain disease biomarkers and protein therapeutics.

“Yuesheng’s work in therapeutic targets and drug development is highly impactful,” said Robert A. Winn, M.D., Massey director and Lipman Chair in Oncology. “This research is the embodiment of taking bench to bedside. His work in Roswell and dedication to science is reflective of everything that we believe at Massey.”

Zhang earned his M.D. in 1984 and M.S. in 1988 from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences in 1996 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he also completed his postdoctoral fellowship and served as a junior faculty member.

Prior to his time with Roswell, Zhang was an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona and a research member of the University of Arizona Cancer Center. He is also an adjunct research professor in the department of pharmacology and therapeutics at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Zhang has authored or co-authored over 140 journal articles, book chapters and meeting abstracts. As of April 2022, his papers have been cited nearly 16,000 times. He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (ASBMB).