Faculty

Gary D. Wu, MD

Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology

Department: Medicine

Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information

421 Curie Boulevard
915 Biomedical Research Building II/III
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Office: 215-898-0158
Fax: 215-573-2024

Publications

Search PubMed for articles

Education
A.B. (Chemistry)
Cornell University, 1980.
M.D.
Northwestern University Medical School, 1986.
M.A. (Honorary)
University of Pennsylvania, 2002.

Links
Search PubMed for articles
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Diseases
PennCHOP Microbiome Program
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Host-Microbial Analytic and Repository Core (H-MARC)

Permanent link

> Perelman School of Medicine > Faculty > Details

Description of Research Expertise

Research Program
Diet, the Gut Microbiome, and Host Metabolism

Program Summary
Gary D. Wu, MD is the Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. He is the Vice Chief for Research in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Director of the Penn Center for Nutritional Science and Medicine, Co-Director of both the PennCHOP Microbiome Program and Associate Director of the NIH Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Disease. He was the inaugural Director and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the American Gastroenterological Association’s Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education and is an elected member of both the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. As a physician-scientist with knowledge of human physiology and biochemistry who has a particular interest in the impact of diet on the gut microbiome and its metabolome, Dr. Wu has a significant level of administrative experience in multidisciplinary team research projects involving biomedical informatics, computational biology, and biostatistics. He has published numerous manuscripts in high impact journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Microbiology, and Cell Host & Microbe.

Lab personnel:
Lillian Chau, MS
Elliot Friedman, PhD
Dylan Curry, MS
Lindsey Herman, BS
Margaret Pichardo, MD, PhD
Jacob Cao
Arthur Li

Selected Publications

Kim D, Joe HI, Bae JW, Wu GD, Compher CW, Koo H.: Fermented food microbiome: influence on oral and gut microbiota, and human health. Nat Rev Microbiol Jun 2026.

Boyle NR, Sekela JJ, Wang M, Mannochio-Russo H, Pyo JJ, Kim MS, Tian S, Koo I, Friedman ES, Tanes C, Anitha M, Tian Y, Morgan EW, Murray IA, Zackular JP, Bittinger K, Lewis JD, Perdew GH, Wu GD, Zemel BS, Dorrestein PC, Bisanz JE, Redinbo MR, Patterson AD.: Glucuronidation metabolomic fingerprinting to map host-microbe metabolism. Nat Commun 17: 6646, May 2026.

Damani RA, Vasisht S, Luks V, Vargas G, Compher C, Titchenell PM, Tasian G, Li H, Wu GD, Witschey WR, Gershuni VM.: Sex-Based Differences in Imaging-Derived Body Composition and Their Association with Clinical Malnutrition in Abdominal Surgery Patients. Nutrients 18: 839, Mar 2026.

Firrman J, Liu L, Mahalak K, Lemons JMS, Narrowe A, Friedman ES, Wu GD, Van de Weile T.: An in vitro model of the small intestinal microbiota provides key insights into interindividual variability in structure and function. mSystems 11: e0137325, Mar 2026.

Mayer LS, Arnold J, Roettele F, Reuter N, Pattekar A, Ohtani T, Ribeiro MM, Siwicki R, Bruder K, Obwegs D, Stahl E, Buechel S, Roehlen N, Kolter J, Mansoori Moghadam Z, Alaswad A, Zhumalidova Z, Li G, Liu X, Li Y, Singh A, Villacorta Hidalgo J, Paraskevopoulou MD, Yajnik V, Juarez J, Ren Y, Li H, Wherry EJ, Lewis JD, Wu GD, Bewtra M, Tomov VT, Thimme R, Bengsch B, Hasselblatt P, Picelli S, Hofmann M, Sagar.: Single-cell profiling reveals diverse γδ T cell subsets in ulcerative colitis. Sci Immunol 11: eadx8474, Feb 2026.

Hantsoo L, Ford E, Friedman ES, Hao F, Patterson AD, Bittinger K, Wu GD, Zemel BS, Tanes C.: The impact of adverse childhood experiences on gut microbiota and markers of inflammation is mediated by obesity and depression. Brain Behav Immun 2026.

Zemel BS, Wu GD, Ford E, Tanes C, DeRusso PA, Kelly A: Early infant appetitive traits are associated with growth status and adiposity in African-American infants and toddlers. Ann Hum Biol. 52(1), December 2025.

Tanes C, Li Y, Falk GW, Ginsberg GG, Wang KK, Iyer PG, Lightdale CJ, Del Portillo A, Lagana SM, Wang TC, Rustgi AK, Quante M, Jin Z, Wu GD, Friedman ES, Bittinger K, Li H, Abrams JA.: Increased reflux secondary bile acids are associated with changes to the microbiome and transcriptome in Barrett's esophagus. Gut 17(1), December 2025.

Tanes C, Hu W, Friedman E, Hecht A, Daniel S, Clish C, Lewis JD, Wu GD, Bittinger K.: Distinguishing diet- and microbe-derived metabolites in the human gut. Microbiome 13: 206, Oct 2025.

Harling LC, Hecht AL, Meyer F, Wu GD.: Revisiting nitrogen assimilation strategies in the mammalian gut: lessons from Enterobacteriaceae as pathobiont models and a challenge to the limitation paradigm. Arch Microbiol 207: 203, Jul 2025.