Jun Li, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., F.A.N.A, has been appointed Interim Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery for the Wayne State University School of Medicine. His appointment was effective on July 1, 2019. 

Dr. Li is also the Chair of the Department of Neurology, a position he has held since March 2018. He also serves as the first Scientific Director of the Translational Neuroscience Initiative.

He replaces Sandeep Mittal, M.D., who the university said farewell to last month.

Dr. Li is a Professor of Neurology. He served as Associate Professor of Neurology from 2006 to 2009 for the WSU School of Medicine. During that period he also directed the Electromyography Fellowship Program.

Dr. Li received his medical degree from Anhui Medical University in the People’s Republic of China in 1985. He received his doctoral degree in Neurosciences in 1995 from the Drexel University College of Medicine (formerly Hahnemann University). He completed a Neurology residency in 1999 at the Ohio State University and an EMG/Neuromuscular Fellowship in 2000 in the Department of Neurology at the University of Utah.

He joined Vanderbilt University as a tenured associate professor of Neurology in 2009 and was appointed tenured professor in 2015.

Widely-published and strongly-funded, Dr. Li is a member of the editorial boards for the Faculty of 1000 Medicine, Neurology, Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation, and Experimental Neurology. He serves as a reviewer for NIH study sections, American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association annual meeting abstracts, the Muscular Dystrophy Association study section, the Peripheral Nerve Society Scientific Advisory Board, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association Scientific Advisory Board, the Talia Duff Foundation Scientific Advisory Board and the Neurogene Scientific Advisory Board. He has mentored numerous post-doctoral students, assistant professors, technicians, research assistants and graduate students.

Dr. Li is a member of the WSU Fund for Medical Research and Education Board of Directors, Society for Neuroscience, the American Academy of Neurology (fellow), the Peripheral Nerve Society, the American Neurological Association (fellow) and the American Society of Neurochemistry, Dr. Li has won numerous awards, including the David Kotlarek Award for excellence in patient care from Ohio State University, the WSU Faculty Research Excellence Award, the WSU Junior Faculty Award and the 2014 Wolfe Research Prize from the American Neurological Association.