Faculty and Staff

headshot of Yuanjun Steven Shen

Yuanjun Steven Shen

Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
PB 421

Background

Dr. Yuanjun “Steve” Shen joined the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at °®¶ą´«Ă˝ in 2025. During his master’s research in Dr. Cesar A. Lau-Cam’s laboratory at St. John’s University, he focused on the effects of taurine and antioxidants derived from plants and animals in the prevention and treatment of fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes. He then joined Dr. Bingfang Yan’s laboratory at the University of Rhode Island for his doctoral research, where he published his research of drug-drug interactions between sofosbuvir (an anti-hepatitis C drug) and tenofovir disoproxil (an anti-HIV drug), caused by sofosbuvir-induced human carboxylesterase-2 inhibition. After he received his PhD degree, Dr. Shen joined Dr. Elena Goncharova’s laboratory to study the mechanisms of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in Vascular Medicine Institute at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 and then followed the Laboratory move to the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Davis in 2020. To obtain the training in organ-in-chip in vitro model design and the microfluidic technology, Dr, Shen joined Dr. Jason Gleghorn’s laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware in 2023.

In 2019, Dr. Shen received an internal grant to support his research in PAH. In 2021, Dr. Shen was awarded for the American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship to investigate the mechanisms of pulmonary arterial endothelial cell and pulmonary arterial smooth muscles cell interaction in PAH pathogenesis.

His current research, funded by the NIH NHLBI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, mainly focuses on the status, function and the mechanism of regulation of Vacuolar Protein Sorting 34 in PAH. He has developed a new interest in mechanisms research of pediatric PAH induced by congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Education

  • BS, China Pharmaceutical University
  • MS, St. John’s University
  • Ph.D., University of Rhode Island
  • Postdoctoral Associate, University of Pittsburgh
  • Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California (Davis)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Delaware

Research Interests

  • Pulmonary hypertension
  • Vascular biology
  • Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
  • Cell signaling
  • Mouse genetic models

Awards

  • 2022 - California Thoracic Society the President’s Award for Poster Presentation
  • 2021 - American Thoracic Society (ATS) Jane Morse Award for Best Scored Abstract
  • 2019 - ATS Abstract Scholarship
  • 2019 - Thomas L. Petty Travel Award
  • 2016 - University of Rhode Island Teaching Assistant Excellence Award
  • 2016 - Golini Family Scholarship in Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island
  • 2015 - Golini Family Scholarship in Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island

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