Rate My Professor Yilai Shu

Yilai Shu is a professor, chief physician, and doctoral supervisor at the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, where he also serves as vice president. He earned a bachelor's degree in clinical medicine from the University of South China in 2004 and completed combined master's and doctoral studies in otolaryngology at Fudan University from 2007 to 2012, including joint training at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear. He conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School from 2012 to 2014.

Shu's research centers on gene therapy for hereditary hearing loss, including AAV-mediated delivery for OTOF mutations and CRISPR-based editing approaches, as well as inner ear hair cell regeneration and auditory protection. He has led clinical trials demonstrating the safety and efficacy of gene therapy for congenital deafness, with key publications including a 2024 single-arm trial in The Lancet on AAV1-hOTOF gene therapy. Additional high-impact work appears in journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Science Translational Medicine, Neuron, and Molecular Therapy. Shu has received the National Natural Science Foundation of China Distinguished Young Scholars Fund and Excellent Young Scientists Fund, along with numerous Shanghai municipal awards for scientific innovation and teaching. He holds editorial and committee roles in professional societies focused on otolaryngology and hearing medicine.