Prof Ronald Li
Founding Director, Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Consortium, The University of Hong Kong

Professor Ronald Li is the Founding Director of the Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Consortium (SCRMC), with over 150 faculty and staff, at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and S Y and H Y Cheng Endowed Professor in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, with cross appointments at the Cardiovascular Research Centres at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Manhattan, NY and The Johns Hopkins University as co-Director of the Section of Cardiac Tissue Engineering and Adjunct Professor of Cardiology, respectively. Before he was recruited to University of California to found and lead the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Consortium as tenured Associate Prof (2005-2009) 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). He was the two-time recipient of the Top Junior Faculty Research Award from JHU Dept of Medicine (2002 & 2004), and has also received such honors as the Young Investigator Award from the Heart Rhythm Society (2002), Career Development Award from the Cardiac Arrhythmias Research & Education Foundation (2001), Top Prize for Young Investigator Basic Research from JHU School of Medicine (2001), etc. His group focuses on bio-electricity and construction of an unlimited library of “custom-tailored” human heart cells. Professor Li’s laboratory created the world’s first genetically engineered human heart cells. Their work on cardiac differentiation (bio-artificial pacemaker) has been recognized by the American Heart Association as Best Basic Study of 2005, Ground-Breaking Study of 2006, and Late-breaking studies of 2003, 2004 and 2007. Professor Li has over 100 publications in the areas. His inventions have led to several start-ups in the US and HK.