Lihong Wang

Ph.D., Rice University (1992)
Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Washington University, St. Louis

Research (Optical Imaging Laboratory)
Dr. Wang's research focuses on biological imaging of tissue for detecting cancer and other diseases. His group has made seminal contributions to ultrasound-modulated optical tomography, photoacoustic tomography, thermoacoustic tomography, modeling of light transport in biological tissue, and polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. In particular, his laboratory invented frequency-swept ultrasound-modulated optical tomography, dark-field confocal photoacoustic microscopy, exact reconstruction algorithms for thermoacoustic tomography, Mueller-matrix optical coherence tomography, and spectroscopic oblique-incidence reflectometry. Dr. Wang's Monte Carlo model of photon transport in biological tissues has been used worldwide. He has received an NIH FIRST award, NSF CAREER award, and Outstanding Young Scientist award sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Medical, Inc. and the Houston Society for Engineering in Medicine and Biology. Dr. Wang is Chair of the International Biomedical Optics Society, and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Optical Society of America, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. He also serves on the scientific advisory boards of three companies and editorial boards for numerous scientific journals.

Education and experience
After receiving a doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University in 1992, Dr. Wang worked as an assistant professor in the Laser Biology Research Laboratory at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In 1996, he joined Texas A&M University’s Biomedical Engineering Program as an assistant professor. While at A&M, Dr. Wang also directed the Optical Imaging Laboratory and held a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He was appointed University Faculty Fellow and Royce E. Wisenbaker II Endowed Professor of Engineering in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Dr. Wang recently relocated to St. Louis and is the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University.