Rate My Professor Lian Li

Lian Li, PhD, serves as Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis, investigating the structure-function relationship and regulation of acetylcholine receptors under Dr. Mark McNamee. Subsequently, she conducted postdoctoral training in Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences with Nobel Laureate Dr. Paul Greengard at Rockefeller University, examining presynaptic machinery that controls neurotransmitter release. Dr. Li launched her independent academic career as Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996. In 2001, she joined Emory University faculty, progressing through the ranks to full professor and assuming her current leadership role as Vice Chair.

The Li laboratory utilizes multidisciplinary approaches to dissect molecular and cellular mechanisms of vesicular trafficking and cell signaling underlying neurodegenerative diseases. Her research encompasses synaptic vesicle exocytosis, endo-lysosomal trafficking, mitochondrial dynamics, and cell signaling regulated by post-translational modifications including ubiquitination, phosphorylation, and glycosylation. Dr. Li has characterized novel regulators and pathways connecting dysregulated protein trafficking and signaling to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and peripheral neuropathy. Recent network-based glycoproteomics investigations have uncovered glycoform coregulation networks and glycan alterations in human AD brains, pinpointing new biomarker and therapeutic targets. Her research program has enjoyed continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. Key publications include “Oxidative Modifications and Down-regulation of Ubiquitin C-terminal Hydrolase L1 associated with idiopathic Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases” (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2004), “Integrative glycoproteomics reveals protein N-glycosylation aberrations and glycoproteomic network alterations in Alzheimer’s disease” (Cell Chemical Biology, 2020), and “Human brain glycoform coregulation network and glycan modification alterations in Alzheimer’s disease” (Science Advances, 2024). Dr. Li has earned the 2025 Emory School of Medicine Mentoring Award for Outstanding Mentoring and Leadership to Trainees and Early-Career Faculty, the Emory 1% Award, election as a Fellow of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 2025, and Fellowship in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program.