{"id":174472,"date":"2021-06-23T14:54:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T18:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=174472"},"modified":"2021-06-25T07:45:40","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T11:45:40","slug":"uconn-liver-specialist-awarded-fulbright-scholarship-to-teach-in-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/06\/uconn-liver-specialist-awarded-fulbright-scholarship-to-teach-in-egypt\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Liver Specialist Awarded Fulbright Scholarship to Teach in Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr.\u00a0George Y.\u00a0Wu, PhD, former d<\/span>irector, Hepatology Section, Division of Gastroenterology-Hepatology, and\u202fHerman\u00a0Lopata\u00a0Chair in Hepatitis Research, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship\u202fto promote and teach liver disease studies\u202fand research\u202fin Egypt, beginning in fall 2021.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wu, now Professor Emeritus,\u202f applied for the Fulbright scholarship with the encouragement and support\u202fof friends and colleagues in Egypt. The Fulbright, which is awarded by the U.S. State Department and international sponsors,\u202fwill allow him to teach and conduct research in Egypt for a year; he plans to separate his teaching and research efforts into two two- month\u202fdedicated\u202fsegments, with the second segment planned for spring 2022.\u202f He will be based at the\u202fNational Research\u202fCentre in Cairo, which is located near the Cairo University Medical School.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wu\u2019s relationship with the Fulbright program goes back many years. He sponsored an Egyptian Fulbright scholar in the 1990s and was a Fulbright specialist himself in 2013, conducting a series of lectures in Egypt on viral hepatitis.\u202f He made many friends and colleagues during his tenure there\u202fand looks forward to returning and\u202freciprocating for the Fulbright opportunities he has enjoyed in the past.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThis is a tremendous opportunity to bring new technology and methodology based on our\u202fresearch and experience\u202ffighting liver\u202fdisease\u202fto the Egyptian medical community,\u202ffocused\u202fespecially\u202fon\u202fmedical and graduate students\u202fand researchers,\u201d Wu explained.\u202f\u201cAt UConn Health, we see many patients with severely damaged livers, and have\u202fbeen studying ways to\u202fmitigate this damage, as well as preserve function and integrity.\u202f We will pursue case-based learning, providing materials, guidance\u202fand direction so students\u202falso\u202fcan teach themselves.\u201d\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wu\u2019s research focuses on rescuing sick and damaged liver cells, applying new techniques, substances\u202fand drug regimens\u202fto mitochondria, membrane-bound cell organelles that generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the cell\u2019s biochemical reactions.\u202fDescribing mitochondria as \u201cnature\u2019s little powerhouses,\u201d his research, he explains, looks at ways to mitigate the damage caused to these cells, often the result of\u00a0drug\u00a0reactions, and to rescue damaged cells and the liver by introducing healthy\u00a0mitochondria.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research he has been conducting involves introducing substances\u202fthat\u202fbond with\u00a0mitochondria to\u00a0direct them to the liver. The intended result is to substitute the diseased cells with healthy replacements, thus\u00a0hopefully precluding\u00a0the need for major surgery and transplantation.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cUltimately, my goal is to foster enthusiasm and collaboration, while generating interest among researchers and\u202fother medical professionals\u202fto work with\u202fcolleagues\u202fon finding short- and longer-term solutions for combatting liver disease,\u201d Wu reflects. \u201cOf course, I\u2019m interested, also, in making new friends and developing professional relationships, and look forward to travel and seeing more of this beautiful country through the\u00a0companionship\u00a0of\u00a0Egyptian friends, students and colleagues.\u201d\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr.\u00a0George Y.\u00a0Wu, PhD, former director, Hepatology Section, Division of Gastroenterology-Hepatology, and\u202fHerman\u00a0Lopata\u00a0Chair in Hepatitis Research, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship\u202fto promote and teach liver disease studies\u202fand research\u202fin Egypt, beginning in fall 2021.\u202f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":174474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1868,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2315],"class_list":["post-174472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meds","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 07:14:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174472"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174544,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174472\/revisions\/174544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/174474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174472"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=174472"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=174472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}