Jun Li

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Biography

As an epidemiologist with medical training, Dr. Li is experienced and committed to the research of diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention, with particular interests and expertise in integrating state-of-the-art multi-omics technologies and advanced analytics under the framework of systems epidemiology, aiming to identify novel risk factors, understand disease etiology and mechanisms through which risk factors impact health, and to inform the development of personalized preventive and therapeutic strategies. In the past few years, Dr. Li has been leading multiple projects in large population cohorts and interventional trials including the UK Biobank, Nurses’ Health Studies, Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the PREDIMED study, and the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, among others. Dr. Li was awarded the Jeremiah and Rose Stamler Research Award and the Mark Bieber Award by the American Heart Association. She is actively involved in teaching activities at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her current research projects include:

1. integrating multi-omics data (transcriptomics, metabolomics, and metagenomics) to examine mechanisms through which diet and lifestyles affect risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cognitive decline;
2. employing large-scale genetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data to examine biological risk factors and pathways relevant to the development cardiovascular disease and diabetes;
3. using polygenic risk prediction for complex disease to identify high-risk populations and examine effective diet/lifestyle intervention strategies for disease prevention among high genetic risk groups.

Education and Training

• Postdoc fellow, Cardiometabolic Disease Epidemiology, Integrated Omics
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Research Scientist, Cardiometabolic Disease Epidemiology, Integrated Omics
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• MD, Preventive Medicine
  Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
• PhD, Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Environmental Health
  School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Awards and Honors

• The Mark Bieber Award, 2023
  American Heart Association
• Scott Grundy Fellowship Award for Excellence in Metabolism Research, 2020
  American Heart Association
• The “Reviewers’ Choice” Award, 2020
  American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting
• The Jeremiah and Rose Stamler Research Award winner, 2019
  American Heart Association
• The Barry R. and Irene Tilenius Bloom Fellowship Award, 2019
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• The Postdoc Association Travel Award, 2018
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Best Young Investigators, 2015
  The Lancet-CAMS Health Summit 2015
• The Bernard Lown Scholarship in Cardiovascular Health Program, 2014
  Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Publications

• Sex differences in the intergenerational link between maternal and neonatal whole blood DNA methylation: a genome-wide analysis in 2 birth cohorts.

  Hu J, Xu X, Li J, Jiang Y, Hong X, Rexrode KM, Wang G, Hu FB, Zhang H, Karmaus WJ, Wang X, Liang L. Clin Epigenetics 2023 03 25

• Obesity-related biomarkers underlie a shared genetic architecture between childhood body mass index and childhood asthma.

  Han X, Zhu Z, Xiao Q, Li J, Hong X, Wang X, Hasegawa K, Camargo CA, Liang L. Commun Biol 2022 10 17

• Arginine catabolism metabolites and atrial fibrillation or heart failure risk: 2 case-control studies within the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea (PREDIMED) trial.

  Goni L, Razquin C, Toledo E, Guasch-Ferré M, Clish CB, Babio N, Wittenbecher C, Atzeni A, Li J, Liang L, Dennis C, Alonso-Gómez Á, Fitó M, Corella D, Gómez-Gracia E, Estruch R, Fiol M, Lapetra J, Serra-Majem L, Ros E, Arós F, Salas-Salvadó J, Hu FB, Martínez-González MA, Ruiz-Canela M. Am J Clin Nutr 2022 09 02

• Differences in Metabolomic Profiles Between Black and White Women and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: an Observational Study of Women From Four US Cohorts.

  Hu J, Yao J, Deng S, Balasubramanian R, Jiménez MC, Li J, Guo X, Cruz DE, Gao Y, Huang T, Zeleznik OA, Ngo D, Liu S, Rosal MC, Nassir R, Paynter NP, Albert CM, Tracy RP, Durda P, Liu Y, Taylor KD, Johnson WC, Sun Q, Rimm EB, Eliassen AH, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Gerszten RE, Clish CB, Rexrode KM. Circ Res 2022 09 16

• Serum Metabolomics of Incident Diabetes and Glycemic Changes in a Population With High Diabetes Burden: The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

  Chai JC, Chen GC, Yu B, Xing J, Li J, Khambaty T, Perreira KM, Perera MJ, Vidot DC, Castaneda SF, Selvin E, Rebholz CM, Daviglus ML, Cai J, Van Horn L, Isasi CR, Sun Q, Hawkins M, Xue X, Boerwinkle E, Kaplan RC, Qi Q. Diabetes 2022 06 01