Top cancer researcher to lead CoEE in cancer stem cell biology

Dr. Zihai Li will join the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina as the endowed chair in cancer stem cell biology under the Centers of Economic Excellence program.

A leading researcher in cancer immunology, Li will direct the cancer immunology program at Hollings, serve as the co-director of the cell therapy facility and serve as a professor at MUSC.

“Dr. Li is a dynamic individual who has been recognized as an outstanding clinician, translational scientist, teacher and mentor,” said Dr. John Raymond, MUSC’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Cancer immunology uses the body’s immune system to recognize and fight cancer cells and tumor growth. Treatments in immunotherapy, including cancer vaccines and antibody treatment, could have the potential to be more effective and less toxic than traditional cancer treatments.

Li has a U.S. patent and four investigational new drug applications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He will be working to find cell-based therapies and new drugs to fight cancer.

“I want to move our work closer and closer to finding a cure for human cancer,” Li said. “These efforts of biomedical research could lead to the launch of clinical trials and eventually to the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics for human diseases.”

Li will be coming from the University of Connecticut.