Rate My Professor Josh Wang

Joshua Jianxin Wang, MD, is an Associate Professor of Research in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo. He earned his MD from Hubei University of Medicine in Hubei, China, in 1985, graduating with highest honors. Wang completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Hubei University of Medicine-University Hospital in 1988, cardiology training at Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences in 1991, and a fellowship in cardiology at Guangzhou Medical University, First Hospital in 1993. His U.S. training includes studies at California State University at Northridge in 2000, Ophthalmology and Molecular Biology at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2003, and a Research Associate position in Diabetes and Cell Biology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2007. Wang's research centers on diabetic-related vascular complications, including diabetic retinopathy, diabetic vascular disease, insulin resistance, and diabetic nephropathy. His investigations examine endoplasmic reticulum stress activation and its interplay with oxidative stress and inflammation in the retina, endothelial dysfunction in diabetic conditions, the regulatory function of endogenous angiogenic inhibitors in diabetic kidney cells, and the role of pigment epithelium-derived factor in adipogenesis.

In his career at University at Buffalo, Wang co-directs the UB-Capital Medical University International Medical Students Exchange Program since 2016 and serves on the Ophthalmology Master Degree program Steering Committee since 2019. He has received the Marinoff Fellowship Award (2025), Knights Templar Eye Foundation Travel Grant (2023), and CSTEP-Research Program fellowship award (Spring 2023). As co-investigator, he participates in the NIH/NEI grant "Molecular Mechanisms of Severe Diabetic Retinopathy" (2020-2029). Key publications include "Loss of X-box Binding Protein 1 in Müller Cells Augments Retinal Inflammation in Diabetes" (Diabetologia, 2019), "Loss of XBP1 Leads to Early-Onset Retinal Neurodegeneration in a Mouse Model of Type I Diabetes" (J. Clin. Med., 2019), "Molecular chaperone ERp29: a potential target for cellular protection in retinal and neurodegenerative diseases" (Adv. Exp. Med. Biol., 2018), "Loss of XBP1 accelerates age-related decline in retinal function and neurodegeneration" (Mol. Neurodegener., 2018), "p58IPK Is an Endogenous Neuroprotectant for Retinal Ganglion Cells" (Front. Aging Neurosci., 2018), "Effects of Nox4 upregulation on PECAM-1 expression in a mouse model of diabetic retinopathy" (PLoS One, 2024), and "The endoplasmic reticulum: Homeostasis and crosstalk in retinal health and disease" (Prog. Retin. Eye Res., 2024).