Speakers

Prof Ronald Li
Director
Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Consortium (SCRMC), S.Y. and H.Y. Cheng Endowed Professor in Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong
Professor Li is the Founding Director of the Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Consortium (SCRMC) and S Y and H Y Cheng Endowed Professor in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at HKU, with cross appointments at the Cardiovascular Research Centre, Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Manhattan and Johns Hopkins University. He is also Adjunct Professor at Karolinska Institutet (pending). SCRMC, currently consisting of over 150 members and staff, took the lead of presenting to the HKSAR the topic of “Stem Cell” in 2010 and had it successfully chosen from over 150 submitted white papers as one of the three topics under the umbrella of health to be eligible for receiving support from the $4-billion Theme-based Research Scheme initiative in HK. Professor Li is a pioneer in cardiac tissue engineering, with over 130 publications. During 2005-2009, Professor Li was a tenured Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis where he led the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Consortium. Before he was recruited to CA in light of the state’s USD$3-billion stem cell initiative Proposition 71, Professor Li was Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University (2002-2005). During Prof. Li’s tenure at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, he was a 2-time recipient of the Top Young Faculty Award (2002, 2004), the Top Prize for the Young Investigator Basic Research (2001) and Top Postdoctoral Fellow (2001). Professor Li’s other accolades include American Heart Association (AHA)’s Best Study of 2005 and Ground-breaking Study of the 2006, Young Investigator Award from the Heart Rhythm Society (2002), and the Career Development Award from the Cardiac Arrhythmias Research & Education Foundation (2001). Professor Li has served as a panel member on many high-profile bodies including the National Institute of Health and American Heart Association in the US, etc. Professor Li's inventions have led to several start-ups in HK and the US.