Andrew W Tai, MD, PhD

Andrew W. Tai, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Dr. Tai obtained his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Harvard University, followed by a combined MD-PhD training program at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Following a residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, he completed a clinical and research fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Tai joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2009. His research work focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which cells support RNA virus infection, such as by hepatitis C virus, dengue and Zika viruses, and SARS-CoV-2. He has been awarded a Research Scholar Award by the American Gastroenterological Association and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). He is the Assistant Dean for Early Medical Education at the University of Michigan Medical School and has been recognized by multiple teaching awards.

In his spare time, he enjoys running, cycling, soccer, and downhill skiing.

- Specialty
Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine

Area of practice
Liver disease, including viral hepatitis B and hepatitis C, cirrhosis, metabolic associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD); liver cancer including hepatocellular carcinoma.

All viruses are parasites in that they need to infect a cell in order to replicate and produce more viruses. During viral infection, viruses hijack many cellular proteins and cellular functions. My laboratory seeks to discover these cellular proteins and to understand how they are exploited during viral infection, as they may represent targets for antiviral therapies. We focus on a large class of viruses called “positive-strand RNA viruses” that includes many medically important viruses such as hepatitis C virus, dengue virus, Zika virus, and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).