Wei Zhao

Dr. Zhao received her PhD in molecular genetics from Fudan University, China. She received postdoctoral training at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, investigating the role of GATA1 transcription factor in red cell differentiation. Later as an Assistant Professor at Mount Sinai, her work focused on: 1) pharmacological interventions of neurological disorders such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using rodent models; 2) identification and characterization of novel biomarkers of traumatic brain injury (TBI). After joining the Spinal Cord Damage Research Center at James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Dr. Zhao carried out research on understanding bone-muscle interaction in the context of spinal cord injury (SCI) and developing novel interventions.

Dr. Zhao’s current research projects have focused on: (1) developing non-opioid interventions to reduce neuropathic pain using rodent models of SCI and peripheral nerve injuries including spared nerve injury (SNI) and chronic constriction injury (CCI) to the sciatic nerve, and identifying underlying mechanisms; (2) developing non-opioid interventions to alleviate arthritis pain and identifying underlying mechanisms; (3) identification of biomarkers of spinal cord injury pain evolution during acute rehabilitation.