Wei Shi, MD, PhD, is a tenured Professor in the Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and in the Department of Surgery at Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. Dr. Shi obtained his Bachelor of Medicine from Zhejiang Medical University in 1984, Master of Medicine from Shanghai Second Medical University in 1989, and PhD degree from University of Tennessee, Memphis, in 1997. He had his postdoctoral training on lung development and cell/molecular biology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California before he was appointed as the faculty member at University of Southern California. Dr. Shi has an international reputation as a thought leader in lung cell and molecular biology and the related pulmonary diseases. He has been studying growth factor signaling in regulating lung development, injury repair and diseases including lung fibrosis, emphysema, asthma, pulmonary cysts, etc. with the support of more than $10,000.000 from NIH and other funding agencies for about 20 years. Dr. Shi has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles in this field. In the past a few years, Dr. Shi’s research focuses on lung mesenchymal progenitor cells in lung development and pulmonary diseases using different approaches including novel transgenic mouse models. In addition, Dr. Shi is also serving as academic editor and editorial board member for several journals including PLoS ONE, American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, and European Respiratory Journal.