Stephen Pak
Professor of Pediatrics and Newborn Medicine in the School of Medicine
Dr. Pak uses microscopic worms called C. elegans to better understand human diseases. Over the past 16 years, he has investigated a particular liver disease called alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, which is the leading genetic cause of pediatric liver transplants. By modifying C. elegans to have the human disease gene mutation, Dr. Pak and his team use these worms as tools to identify novel drug candidates that alleviate the liver disease.
Using a similar approach, Dr. Pak and his team have solved numerous medical mysteries. Dr. Pak is also the Co-director of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN), C. elegans Model Organism Screening Center. The UDN helps to provide answers for patients with longstanding medical conditions that remain undiagnosed. Because these ultra-rare diseases only affect one or two individuals worldwide, there is a lack of knowledge and treatments available to patients and the medical community. Dr. Pak and his team investigate how these rare genetic mutations contribute to disease, which is the first step in developing effective treatment strategies.
Dr. Pak received his B.Sc. from the University of Sydney (Australia) and his Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales (Australia). He held faculty positions at the Harvard Medical School and the University of Pittsburgh before joining the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Pak and his wife Sue have two children (Jesse and Matthew) and they attend Chesterfield Presbyterian Church.