Rate My Professor Will Fong

Ka Wing Fong, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He earned his BS in 2003 and PhD in 2008 from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2013 and Northwestern University Medical School in 2017. He is a member of the Markey Cancer Center Cancer Research Priority Initiative and the Molecular and Cellular Oncology Research Program. Fong's research investigates aberrant epigenetic regulation and cell signaling in prostate cancer, utilizing high-throughput genomic techniques including ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq with bioinformatics analysis, proteomics, molecular biology, and pre-clinical mouse models. His work characterizes biomarkers and pursues novel therapeutics for castration-resistant prostate cancer. Notable studies include regulation of androgen receptor activity by CCN3 (Cancer Research, 2017) and TRIM28 (Nature Communications, 2018), anti-androgen resistance via CXCR7-mediated MAPK-ERK signaling (Cancer Research, 2019), and the role of PRC2 subunit PALI1 in promoting tumor growth through competitive recruitment to G9A-target chromatin for dual epigenetic silencing (Molecular Cell, 2022).

Fong has authored publications in leading journals such as Nature Genetics (HOXB13 suppresses de novo lipogenesis through HDAC3-mediated epigenetic reprogramming in prostate cancer, 2022), Science Advances, Oncogene, and The Journal of Clinical Investigation. He received the V Scholar Grant in 2023 and the Young Investigator Award from the Society for Basic Urologic Research. As principal investigator, he has obtained grants from the V Foundation for work on the RSK-TRIM28-E2F1 axis in CDK4/6 inhibitor-resistant prostate cancer (2023-2026), the Mike Slive Foundation targeting TRIM28-mediated metabolic-epigenetic crosslinks in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (2026), and the American Cancer Society for studies on SETDB1 in prostate cancer (2026-2030) and CCDC83 in anti-androgen resistance (2022-2023). He also serves as a co-investigator on the University of Kentucky Center for Cancer Metabolism grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (2017-2026).