Dr. Kang is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, Faculty of Medicine. He earned his Bachelor of Medicine degree from Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Wuhan) in 2001, followed by Master’s degree in Pathology at Southern Medical University (Guangzhou). In 2010, he obtained his PhD under the supervision of Prof. To Ka Fai at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Subsequently, he advanced through academic ranks as a Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Assistant Professor, focusing on gastric cancer research.

In recent years, Dr. Kang has been actively involved in gastric cancer research at the State Key Laboratory of Translational Oncology and the State Key Laboratory of Digestive Disease. His work has been supported by grants from the RGC-GRF, NSFC, and CUHK Direct Grants, and he has published 143 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Among these, 63 publications feature him as the First or Corresponding author, including Molecular Cancer (8), Oncogene (8), Journal of Pathology (4), Clinical and Translational Medicine (2), Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, Clinical and Molecular Hepatology, Theranostics.

Dr. Kang serves as a reviewer for multiple funding bodies, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Poland National Science Fund, and the French National Alliance Fund for Life and Health Sciences, as well as for over 200 academic journals (with >620 reviews conducted). Additionally, he supervises PhD, MPhil, and MSc students at CUHK.

Research Interests:
1. The Hippo-YAP1 pathway in gastric carcinogenesis
2. The classification and roles of cancer-associated fibroblasts in gastric carcinogenesis
3. Identification of novel druggable targets based on molecular classification of gastric cancer
4. Development of Apatermer-based PROTAC for gastric cancer treatment

Research Opportunities:
Postgraduate studentship and Postdoctoral fellowship positions are available. Please contact Dr. Kang for inquiries

Grants (As Principal Investigator):
General Research Fund (GRF: 2025, 2019, 2018, 2016)
Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 2022, 2012)
CUHK (Direct Grant: 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2014)

Journal Editorship:
Associate Editor: Molecular Cancer (2017-Present) (IF: 33.9)
Editor: Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research (2023-Present) (IF: 12.8)

Journal publications (h-index: 45)
Listed in: Top 2% Most Highly Cited Scientists by Stanford (2022, 2023, 2024)
Researcher ID: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/1566392
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IfRuw1QAAAAJ&hl=zh-TW
Scopus ID: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=41761487100
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4651-677X
Total publications: 143; as first (or co-) or corresponding (or co-) author publications: 63

1 Xie F#, Lyu Y, Chen B, Leung HW, Yu P, Feng T, Fang C, Cheung AHK, Zhou B, Jiang J, Zhang G, Xu D, Li L, Jiang C, Chen J, Zhou Z, An L, Huang B, Zhuang K, Luo X, Leung KT, To CH, Ma BB, Wong CC, Wu WK, Yu J, To KF, Kang W*. STK3 is a transcriptional target of YAP1 and a hub component in the crosstalk between Hippo and Wnt signaling pathways during gastric carcinogenesis. Molecular Cancer. 2025 Jul 2;24(1):186. doi: 10.1186/s12943-025-02391-x.

2 Liu X#, Chen B#, Xie F#, Wong KY, Cheung AH, Zhang J, Wu Q, Fang C, Hu J, Wang S, Xu D, Chen J, Wang Y, Wong CC, Chen H, Wu WKK, Yu J, Chan MWY, Tsang CM, Lo KW, Tse GMK, To KF, Kang W*. FOXP4 is a Direct YAP1 Target that Promotes Gastric Cancer Stemness and Drives Metastasis. Cancer Research. 2024 Nov 4;84(21):3574-3588

3 Chen B#, Liu X#, Yu P#, Xie F, Kwan JSH, Chan WN, Fang C, Zhang J, Cheung AHK, Chow C, Leung GWM, Leung KT, Shi S, Zhang B, Wang S, Xu D, Fu K, Wong CC, Wu WKK, Chan MWY, Tang PMK, Tsang CM, Lo KW, Tse GMK, Yu J, To KF, Kang W*. H. pylori-induced NF-κB-PIEZO1-YAP1-CTGF axis drives gastric cancer progression and cancer-associated fibroblast-mediated tumour microenvironment remodelling. Clinical and Translational Medicine. 2023 Nov;13(11):e1481

4 Zhang #J, Chen B#, Wang Y#, Liu X#, Yan H, Wong KY, Chan AK, Cheung AH, Chow C, Xu D, Wang S, Huang B, Liang L, Ke H, Wong CC, Wu WK, Cheng AS, Yu J, Lo KW, To KF, Kang W*. The E2F1-HOXB9/PBX2-CDK6 axis drives gastric tumorigenesis and serves as a therapeutic target in gastric cancer. Journal of Pathology. 2023 Jun 5. doi: 10.1002/path.6091

5 Wang Y#, Chen H#, Liu W, Yan H, Zhang Y, Cheung AHK, Zhang J, Chen B, Liang L, Zhou Z, Wong CC, Wu WKK, Chan MWY, Cheng ASL, Ma BBY, Yu J, Lo KW, To KF*, Kang W*. MCM6 is a critical transcriptional target of YAP to promote gastric tumorigenesis and serves as a therapeutic target. Theranostics. 2022; 12(15):6509-6526