Dr. Yuanpu Peter Di is a tenured Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Center for Translational Science (CTS) at Florida International University (FIU). His research aims to investigate the health effects of environmental exposure on humans. He has published over 110 papers in many high-impact journals with over 8,000 citations. Dr. Di's research has been continuously funded since 1996 by multiple funding agencies and private foundations, including the National Institutes of Health (NHLBI, NIAID, NIEHS, NCI, NIA, and NIGMS), American Heart Association (AHA), American Lung Association (ALA), Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), and Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI). Dr. Di has contributed significantly to understanding lung mucosal immunity, inhalation toxicology, and pulmonary diseases. His laboratory also pioneered using engineered antimicrobial peptides with structure-activity relationship (SAR) based rational design to develop novel peptide antimicrobials in overcoming the emerging challenge of multi-drug resistant (MDR) microbial infection. In addition, Dr. Di's translational research projects have resulted in US and international patents and won many awards, including the Pittsburgh Innovator, I-Corps from NSF, the first-place commercialization award at the University of Pittsburgh, and three NIH SBIR grants. Dr. Di has continuously served on multiple review panels and NIH study sections to review grant applications for the US and seven other countries. Dr. Di has served over 40 NIH study sections and has been a standing member of the NIH Lung Cellular, Molecular, and Immunobiology (LCMI) study section. He has also served as chair for several DoD grant review panels. He is on seven journal editorial boards and has reviewed manuscripts for over a hundred different journals. Dr. Di previously served as president of the Chinese-American Lung Association (CALA) to promote diversity and academic excellence. Currently, he has funding via several NIH awards, including two R01 and one R21 awards focused on understanding pathogenic mechanisms of respiratory infections and developing novel antimicrobials to overcome MDR microbial infections. He has also trained both MD and PhD investigators, and many of them have gone on to independent academic careers.
