Dr. Charles Hong is the Chair of Medicine at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Dr. Hong’s laboratory-based research, which includes innovative chemical genetic studies in zebrafish as well as the use of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC), has led to new biological insights and therapeutic opportunities. Among his scientific contributions is the discovery of the role of Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K) in vein specification during vasculogenesis, which foreshadowed the realization that aberrant PI3K activation is a common cause of clinical venous malformations.  He also discovered the first small molecule inhibitor of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling, which directly catalyzed the development of a clinical stage therapeutic program for devastating human diseases. His ongoing investigations studies include unraveling the significance of centrosome reorganization in cardiac structure and function, and novel therapies targeting of a key pro-oncogenic signaling pathway activated downstream of Warburg Effect. His clinical expertise is cardiovascular genetics.