Wei Li

Wei Li
Associate Professor

Associate Professor (P), Physician Assistant Studies , Clinical & Diagnostic Sciences 2017 -
Scientist (C), Alzheimer's Disease Center , Neurology 2017 -

Overview

Dr. Li is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical &
Diagnostic Sciences, School of Health Professions (SHP) at University of Alabama at
Birmingham (UAB). He earned his PhD in Molecular Physiology from Southern Illinois
University Carbondale in 2006 and a Medical Degree in Clinical Medicine in 1997 from
Xinxiang Medical University. As a medical educator, he has more than 10 years’
experience dedicated on teaching and doing translational research. He has also published
over 20 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. At the same time, he is serving as the
associate editor for Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and an active reviewer for five other
journals: Journal of Allied Health, Neurobiology of Aging, Journal of Diabetes, Journal
of Brain Imaging and Behavior, and The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
Further, he is an active member of several professional organizations including
Alzheimer’s Association, Endocrine Society, and Physician Assistant Education
Association. He enjoys teaching as well as doing research for his academic career. In his
free time, he enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and playing tennis.

Selected Publications

Academic Article

Year	Title	Altmetric
2020	Therapeutic effects of CPAP on cognitive impairments associated with OSA. Journal of Neurology. 267:2823-2828. 2020
2018	Type 2 diabetes mellitus and cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer's disease biomarker amyloid β1-42 in Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative participants 2018

Research Overview

Dr. Li started his research career in 1997 after he received his medical degree. As a
graduate student, he had his formal research training in electrophysiology for
investigating inhibitory components of the neuronal circuit underlying the Startle Reflex
in fish. In 2002, he investigated the cardio-protective effects of phytoestrogen resveratrol
with an estrogen receptor free cell model: HeLa cell line. In 2009, he successful applied
the National Genomics Research Initiative grant sponsored by Howard Hughes Medical
Institute as a Principal Investigator (PI). This grant provided an opportunity for him to
work with undergraduates on individual projects on studying Phages in Genomics
research. His current research focus is on Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Using the data from
Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), type 2 diabetes mellitus, traumatic
brain injuries, and obstructive sleep apnea are investigated for their effects on brain
structure and function changes. Volume, cortical thickness, and gray matter density of
regional brain areas are analyzed for examining structural changes of the brain. The
functional changes are analyzed by using data from cognition performance tests and
glucose metabolism measurements from different brain regions. In addition, biomarkers
from either blood plasma or cerebrospinal fluid are analyzed to examine their changes
during a longitudinal follow-up. Last but not least, he has been supervising physician
assistant (PA) students on their research projects since 2013.

Teaching Overview

Dr. Wei Li has accumulated a lot of teaching experience through working in the roles of a
teaching assistant, assistant professor or associate professor. He has been teaching
different subjects at the level of undergraduate or graduate students. The medical subjects
include Anatomy, Physiology, Biology, Medical Terminology, Pathophysiology,
Evidence Based Critical Inquiry Series, Introduction to Medical History and Physical
Examination, Neurology, Endocrinology, Clinical Simulation, and Genomics Research.
In addition, he is a certified instructor from American Heart Association for both Basic
Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) trainings. In 2019, Dr.
Li received the Gold Certificate from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at
UAB. Moreover, he is interested in doing pedagogical research, diversifying Physician
Assistant workforce and outcome assessments.