The Keck School of Medicine community mourns the loss of Zuo-Zhong Wang, Ph.D., a Keck School faculty member and researcher at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute.

Dr. Wang died in an accident while hiking in the San Dimas Mountains this past weekend. He was 46.

Wang was an associate professor in the Department of Cell and Neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He was a noted neuroscientist whose discoveries had a profound impact on his field. His research focused on how synapses form, using the neuromuscular junction as a model system. His recent work with colleague Lin Chen on the crystal structure of a nicotine receptor was noted as a landmark accomplishment in the fields of structural biology and neuronal cell signaling.

Wang joined the Keck School of Medicine in 2005 and served on the faculty of the USC Programs in Biomedical and Biological Sciences (PIBBS).

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Second Medical University in Shanghai, China, and received his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Utah School of Medicine and did his postdoctoral training with Dr. Zach Hall at the University of California, San Francisco and the National Institutes of Health.

He became an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh prior to joining the Keck School of Medicine.

Dr. Wang is survived by his wife Yun Yao, a son and step-son, his mother and three brothers.

“We at the Keck School of Medicine extend our deepest sympathy to Dr. Wang’s family,” said Keck School Dean Carmen Puliafito. “We are saddened by the loss of an esteemed colleague.”