Yuanpu Peter Di

Yuanpu (Peter) Di, PhD, MBA, is Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, and a faculty member of the Center for Translational Science. He is also Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, where he spent more than two decades developing a nationally recognized research program in pulmonary biology, inhalation toxicology, environmental health, and airway innate immunity.

Dr. Di received a medical certificate from the National Defense Medical University, earned his PhD in Biophysics from the State University of New York at Buffalo through Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and completed an MBA in Innovation and Technology Management at the University of California, Davis. His research examines how environmental exposures, microbial pathogens, airway epithelial cells, and mucosal immune responses interact to shape respiratory health and disease. His major research interests include epithelial host defense, BPIFA1/SPLUNC1 biology, host-pathogen interactions, antimicrobial resistance, pneumonia and sepsis, chronic inflammatory lung diseases, lung cancer, and the development of peptide-based and host-directed therapeutics.

Over nearly three decades, Dr. Di has maintained continuous external research funding and currently directs five NIH-funded programs. He has secured more than $47 million in competitive funding, including more than $22 million as principal investigator, and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and 19 book chapters or invited reviews, receiving more than 8,800 citations with an h-index of 47. His translational research has generated two issued U.S. patents, issued patents in Canada and China, additional pending U.S. and European patent applications, and three federally funded SBIR Phase I awards.

Dr. Di has delivered 152 invited seminars and keynote lectures, served on more than 40 NIH study sections and numerous national and international review panels, and reviewed manuscripts for more than 100 journals. He currently serves on five editorial boards and as an Associate or Academic Editor for three journals. A committed mentor, he has trained 17 postdoctoral fellows, 5 PhD students, 7 MS students, and more than 35 undergraduate researchers.