Gu earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University in 2008 in biology, then earned his M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine in 2015. He started a surgical residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2015. Vanderbilt put Gu on administrative leave for two weeks in November 2017, and placed him on probation until March 2018. Gu said this was due to his tweets opposing white supremacy; Vanderbilt was unable to comment on personnel matters but stated that the leave was based on Vanderbilt's policies, including those concerning use of social media. Gu received notice from Vanderbilt in May 2018 confirming that his residency contract would not be renewed after the third year of what is usually a five-year residency; the fourth year would have started on July 1, 2018. In a letter addressed to Gu, VUMC cited performance issues—as it did when he was placed on leave. A May 17 letter to Gu from VUMC General Counsel Michael Regier, which was obtained by the Duke Chronicle, cited "lack of sufficient improvement in performance and conduct in key areas."
Career
While he was in medical school, Gu was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship to perform research at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He wanted to see if organs from a fetus might be able to adapt to the immune system of a host into which it was transplanted; as a first step he transplanted human fetal hearts and kidneys into immunocompromised rats. In 2012 Gu and Nick K. Chang, who had also gone to Stanford and was a Duke medical student, founded Ganogen, Inc., as a vehicle to further develop these methods. Gu put the work on hold when he started his residency, and took down the company's website after he was harassed in the wake of the Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy. He had decided in early 2016 to convert the company to nonprofit. He put the company's website back up when he learned he had been subpoenaed by Congress in March 2016. As of May 24, 2020, Gu is CEO of Cool Quit, a company based in California. Gu is not currently a clinician and is not currently licensed to practice medicine in California, Arizona, Nevada or Oregon.
Politics
Gu is one of seven Twitter users who filed a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump in July 2017 after being blocked from Trump's personal @realDonaldTrump account; the case is Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump. On May 23, 2018, federal judge Naomi Buchwald ruled that President Trump cannot block his critics on Twitter in violation of the First Amendment. In March 2016, Gu, in his role as CEO of Ganogen, was subpoenaed by the United States House Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood that was created in response to the Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy, to testify about his research involving human fetal tissue. Gu has since spoken out about what he perceives to be the unfair treatment and intimidation of researchers and physicians by the panel, which included the panel releasing the names, addresses, and contact information of people who work with fetal tissue. Gu was recognized by the Union of Concerned Scientists for his response to the panel investigation and criticism from pro-life activists.
Controversies
In a series of viral tweets, Gu was accused of sexual assault by a former partner and of using a fake Twitter account under the name of Mary Laury to harass her and others. Gu and his wife divorced in October 2015. His wife requested a one-month restraining order against him which was granted in February 2015, based on four allegations of domestic violence dating back to 2013, the last of which involved the police being called and Gu being arrested in February 2015. His ex-wife allowed the restraining order to lapse and the court records were eventually expunged. Responding to Gu's activism against his father, Donald Trump Jr. alleged Gu was a "wife beater." Gu denied all allegations of domestic violence.
