Faculty Profile

Dr. Li earned his Master's Degree in Organic Chemistry in 1991 and his PhD Degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2000.  He received his postdoctoral training in Dr. Roderick Dashwood's laboratory at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University where he worked on molecular mechanisms and chemoprevention of colorectal cancer.  He joined the Gastroenterology Division at UTMB as a faculty member in 2006.

Dr. Li has been very well funded by the NIH, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), and the American Heart Association (AHA) for research in gastrointestinal and cardiovascular science.  He has served as a reviewer for Digestive Disease Week (DDW), the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and numerous scientific journals.  He has authored and co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, textbook chapters, and reviews.

Dr. Li is widely regarded as a passionate teacher.  He was honored as Teacher of the Year for two consecutive years (1998 and 1999) and was elected by all graduate students as "The Teacher I Like Most" at Central South University in 1998.  Many medical students at UTMB have rated him as the best facilitator they have had.  In student evaluations of teaching, three PBL groups of medical students granted him perfect scores (5.00/5.00) in 2015, 2017, and 2020.

MEDICAL/PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL:

PhD, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Central South University Xiang-Ya School of Medicine - Changsha, Hunan Province, China, 2000

MS, Organic Chemistry, Guangxi Normal University - Guilin, Guangxi Province, China, 1991

BS, Chemistry, Hunan Normal University - Changsha, Hunan Province, China, 1985

Research Interests

Dr. Li's research interests lie in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a complex GI disease associated with lifelong medical attention, poor quality of life, and huge economic burden, as well as in IBD-associated disorders, including colitis-associated cancer and IBD-induced cardiovascular diseases.  Decades of research suggest that the pathogenesis of IBD, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, involves abnormal gut microbiota, immune response dysregulation, environmental factors, and genetic susceptibility.

Specifically, Dr. Li's research interests include:

• Epigenetic and bacterial contributions to the development of IBD and colitis-associated cancer (CAC)
• Molecular mechanisms underlying IBD-associated cardiovascular disorders
• Identification of biomarkers and therapeutic targets in IBD and CAC
• Development of small molecule drugs targeting TRAF6 and MMP7 in inflammatory diseases
• Phytochemicals as chemopreventive agents against IBD and extraintestinal manifestations of IBD