Jianyuan Chai

Biography

I was born in Inner Mongolia, China. I earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology from Inner Mongolia University and a Master of Science Degree in Hydrobiology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Then I worked at the academy for 6 years, including 4 years at the Institute of Hydrobiology (Wuhan) studying parasitic protozoa and 2 years at the Institute of Zoology (Beijing) studying spiders. In 1991, I went to the City University of New York (CUNY) to pursue my doctoral study in biology under the advisor Dr. John J. Lee, a well-known marine microbiologist. Then I continued my academic journey at Harvard University as a postdoctoral research fellow studying cardiac aging in Dr. Jeanne Y. Wei’s Lab（1998-2001). In November 2001, I was recruited by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as an Associate Investigator working with Dr. Andrzej S. Tarnawski initially and became a Principal Investigator in 2004. Meantime, I was also a faculty at the University of California, School of Medicine in Irvine till 2016. During this period, I established the Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Injury and Cancer at Long Beach VA Healthcare System, studying digestive diseases, particularly esophageal cancer biology. After residing in the United States for a quarter of a century, I decided to move back to my hometown (Baotou, China), and make some scientific contributions to the local people. To date, I have published 8 books and dozens of research articles on various subjects, and mentored dozens of graduate students.