Chong Wee Liew is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is also an adjunct Associate Professor of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, and a Fellow of the UIC Honors College.

Chong Wee received his B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. in Microbiology from National University of Singapore, and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from University of Hamburg, Germany. After that, Chong Wee moved to Boston, Massachusetts to do his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Rohit N. Kulkarni at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School. Based on his pioneering work on a transcription co-regulator, TRIP-Br2, Chong Wee was awarded the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award by NIDDK and was subsequently promoted to become Research Associate at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Instructor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.

Chong Wee has published over 60 peer-reviewed publications. He has received research funding from federal agencies and foundations. Chong Wee also serves on editorial board of journals and on NIH and regional grant review committees

Research interests: Adipose tissues (white, brown and beige) are constantly being remodeled to adapt to metabolic needs and environmental challenges. In response to a variety of hormonal, nutritional (e.g. fasting, overacting), environmental (cold exposure) cues, adipose tissues will undergo metabolic adaptation involving lipolysis, lipogenesis, adipogenesis, mitochondria biogenesis/clearance, and thermogenesis to regulate whole-body metabolic and energy homeostasis. Using cutting-edge technologies and multidisciplinary approaches (e.g. molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, bioinformatics), Dr. Liew aims to understand/identify regulatory mechanisms modulated during physiological and patho-physiological perturbations. His long-term goal is to use these insights to contribute to new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of metabolic diseases (obesity, diabetes).

Teaching contribution: Dr. Liew teaches lectures in the Master of Science in Medical Physiology and in the first- and second-year courses of the Graduate Education in Biomedical Sciences (GEMS) Program. Dr. Liew is also the Director for PHYB531 (Integrative Metabolism) and PHYB572 (Clinical Application of Physiology) graduate courses.