Rate My Professor Weei-Chin Lin

Weei-Chin Lin, M.D., Ph.D., serves as the Dan L. Duncan Endowed Professor in the Section of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, and Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine. She is also affiliated with the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Lin obtained her M.D. from National Taiwan University in 1986 and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1993. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1994, followed by residency training in 1996 and a clinical fellowship in hematology-oncology in 1999, both at Duke University Medical Center. Board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, hematology, and medical oncology, Lin has earned distinguished awards including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar award from 2006 to 2011, General Motors Cancer Research Scholar from 2002 to 2005, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Junior Faculty Development Award from 2001 to 2004, Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Physician Scientist Award from 1999 to 2001, and the Martin and Carol Macht Research Prize from Johns Hopkins University in 1993. Additionally, she co-directs the Cancer & Cell Biology Graduate Program at Baylor College of Medicine.

As a physician-scientist, Lin's research centers on cell cycle regulation, DNA damage response, protein modifications, and the development of novel cancer therapeutics, with a particular emphasis on deregulated pRb/E2F and p53 pathways in oncogenic activation. Her laboratory translates fundamental discoveries into targeted cancer therapies. Key publications include "Mutant p53 variants differentially impact replication initiation and activate cGAS-STING to affect immune checkpoint inhibition" (Communications Biology, 2025), "A small-molecule inhibitor of TopBP1 exerts anti-MYC activity and synergy with PARP inhibitors" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023), "DNA2 nuclease inhibition confers synthetic lethality in cancers with mutant p53 and synergizes with PARP inhibitors" (Cancer Research Communications, 2023), "Super-enhanced MARCO variant drives triple-negative breast cancer progression" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022), and "14-3-3τ drives estrogen receptor loss via ERα36 induction and GATA3 inhibition in breast cancer" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022). Lin holds patents such as U.S. Patent 9,636,323 for treating TopBP1-overexpressing cancers and a pending patent for novel TopBP1 inhibitors. Her contributions advance strategies to overcome therapeutic resistance and promote cancer cell death.