Dr. Yunbo Li

Biography

Yunbo Li (Y. Robert Li) received his MD from Shandong Medical University, MPH from Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, and PhD from Johns Hopkins University. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at University of California at Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Li’s previous working institutions include Beijing Medical University, University of Sydney/National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOHS) of Australia, UC Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions, St. John’s University College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, and College of Pharmacy, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Virginia Tech College of Veterinary Medicine, and Virginia Tech-Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. He joined Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine in January 2013 as Professor and Chair of Department of Pharmacology and Assistant Dean for Biomedical Research. Dr. Li is an author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications, three monographs, and numerous chapters in respected books. His laboratory currently focuses on investigating oxidative and inflammatory stress mechanisms of disease process and developing mechanistically-based preventive and therapeutic modalities against oxidative/inflammatory injury underlying such common diseases as cardiovascular disorders, obesity/metabolic syndrome, and cancer. The research in his laboratories has been supported by grants from NCI, NHLBI, NIDDK, AICR, and HPRF. Currently, Dr. Li is the lead investigator on research funded by NIH and NCI entitled “Cruciferous Dithiolethiones for Chronic Heart Failure: Signaling Mechanisms” and proposes to provide not only a novel strategy for protecting against cancer chemotherapy-induced chronic heart failure, but also an effective modality for the intervention of heart failure resulting from other causes, such as myocardial ischemia. Completion of this preclinical study will lay a foundation for the subsequent clinical research to develop a cruciferous dithiolethione-based approach to the intervention of human heart failure and augmentation of the efficacy of cancer chemotherapy. Dr. Li has been a mentor for over 30 graduate students, medical/pharmacy students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and assistant professors. He serves as a reviewer for Johns Hopkins NIEHS center grants, NIH grants, and over 30 respected scholastic journals. Dr. Li is Co-Editor-in-Chief for Toxicology Letters, a well-respected and widely read journal that receives well above one thousand manuscripts annually. He also serves as board member for six other respected journals. Dr. Li has over 20 years of teaching experience in the areas of biomedical sciences, free radical biology, toxicology, and pharmacology.

Research Interest

Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology & Toxicology, Cardiovascular Medicine, Cancer Biology and Discovery & Development of Anticancer Drugs, Neuroscience and Neuroprotection, Oxygen Radicals and Inflammation in Human Degenerative Diseases, Drug Discovery & Development for the Intervention of Oxidative and Inflammatory Tissue Degeneration, Natural Products, Nutraceuticals, and Nutritional Biochemistry, Inflammation, Immune Cell Differentiation, and Cell Signaling