Charles (Chaz) Hong, MD, PhD, has been named a Michigan State University Research Foundation Professor in recognition of his decades of scientific research and clinical impact, including groundbreaking research focused on phosphoinositol-3-kinase and mitogen-activated kinase signaling in artery-vein specification.

Hong sees that discovery as only one part of the much larger story of how his career helps patients through research.

“We need both hope and science to be a full clinician, to really make a difference,” said Hong, citing this belief as one of his mottos. Years ago, a patient gave him a “Pocketful of Hope,” a little bag full of physical representations of the hope we all need during tough times. It includes items like “a rock to give you strength” and “a star to remind you to keep shining.” To this day, Hong keeps it in his office as a reminder of the way that bringing research from the bench to the bedside gives real people hope.

Indeed, the hope he has brought to clinical medicine is significant. In addition to the PI3-kinase and MAP kinase signaling discovery, he and his team also invented Dorsomorphin, the first small molecule inhibitor of the BMP signaling pathway that has led to emerging therapies in the fields of oncology, bone disease, anemia, and regenerative medicine.