Jun Li inducted into 2024 Class of AIMBE College of Fellows

Jun Z. Li, Ph.D., professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (DCMB), Associate Chair for Research in DCMB, and Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. He was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the AIMBE College of Fellows “for innovations in computational biology and leadership in fostering interdisciplinary genomic research.” The impact of Li’s research stems from the increasing centrality of quantitative analysis in understanding biological complexities, and from his record of innovations to bridge the biological, computational, and engineering disciplines. 

Dr. Li has made important contributions in quantitative genomics, bioinformatics, and single-cell analyses in studies involving both human samples and those based on engineered systems. His trajectory from physics to biology has allowed him to be particularly effective in leveraging the emerging, high-volume molecular and cellular data to drive knowledge discovery. His landmark study on human genetic diversity (Science, 2008) led to a sustained interest of his group in classification problems, and it has broadened from the evolution of complex genomes to disease patterns in space and time, and to cellular heterogeneity in organ development and its disorders, including infertility and cancer. One of his distinguishing strengths as a research innovator is to develop mechanistically transparent models of tissue function in the physical realities of the cells.

Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to medical and biological engineers, comprising the top two percent of engineers in these fields. College membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering and medicine research, practice, or education” and to "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of medical and biological engineering or developing/implementing innovative approaches to bioengineering education." 

“We are all proud of Professor Li for this milestone accomplishment in his stellar career,”says Brian Athey, Savageau Collegiate Professor and Chair of DMCB. “I am certain that he will continue to be so honored in the future, and we are all beneficiaries of his deep wisdom and scientific insights. Please join me in congratulating him for this honor of national significance.”

Dr. Li expresses his gratitude for this recognition: “I am thankful to all my colleagues in biomedical engineering for bringing new challenges in computation analysis, and for enlightening me on the difference between figuring out how biology works and building something that works like biology.”

A formal induction ceremony was held during the AIMBE Annual Event at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, on March 25, 2024. 

Dr. Li was inducted along with 162 colleagues who make up the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2024. While most AIMBE Fellows hail from the United States, the College of Fellows has inducted Fellows representing more than 30 countries. AIMBE Fellows are employed in academia, industry, clinical practice, and government. AIMBE Fellows are among the most distinguished medical and biological engineers including three Nobel Prize laureates and 22 Presidential Medal of Science and/or Technology and Innovation awardees. Additionally, 214 Fellows have been inducted to the National Academy of Engineering, 117 inducted to the National Academy of Medicine, and 48 inducted to the National Academy of Sciences. 

About AIMBE 
AIMBE is the authoritative voice and advocate for the value of medical and biological engineering to society. AIMBE’s mission is to recognize excellence, advance public understanding, and accelerate medical and biological innovation. No other organization brings together academic, industry, government, and scientific societies to form a highly influential community advancing medical and biological engineering. AIMBE’s mission drives advocacy initiatives into action on Capitol Hill and beyond. For more information about the AIMBE, please visit www.aimbe.org.