Current Positions

• Associate Professor of Internal Medicine-Cardiovascular Medicine

Education

• MS in Cardiovascular Physiology, Shandong Medical University, Jinan, China
• PhD, Neuroscience, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa

Graduate Program Affiliations

• Human Toxicology
• Neuroscience

Center, Program and Institute Affiliations

• Cardiovascular Research Center
• Iowa Neuroscience Institute

Research Interests

My research interest is to advance our understanding of the central brain mechanisms underlying the regulation of cardiovascular function, hemodynamics, sympathetic nerve activity and neuroendocrine in cardiovascular diseases. Using a multifaceted approach including electrophysiology, molecular biology, immunofluorescence, pharmacology, and biochemistry in experimental animal models, our research projects investigate the central inflammatory mechanisms driving neurohumoral activation in heart failure and hypertension. I am particularly interested in inflammation-driven neuronal excitability, synaptic plasticity, and intracellular signaling associated with the productions of excitatory mediators in cardiovascular/autonomic brain regions like forebrain subfornical organ (SFO) and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN). I am also interested in studying the potential neural pathways that mediate peripheral and central inflammatory cytokines-induced sympathetic excitation. Additionally, my research tries to understand the immune and cellular mechanisms that contribute to the inflammatory states in the central nervous system in the settings of heart failure and hypertension.