Australian by Degree, Dr Yijia Li, China

Australian by Degree - Australia Global Alumni Video Profiles
Australian by Degree is a video profile series that captures the inspirational stories of Australia’s global alumni who are achieving great success in their home countries. These short programmes demonstrate how a world-class education from Australia has helped emerging leaders from around the globe to bring new knowledge and innovation to their fields of expertise.
Countries profiled include: Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and China.
Dr Yijia Li
Dr Yijia Li is the Director of the Yunnan Province Stem Cell Bank. having graduated from Tsinghua University with an undergraduate degree in Biology and a double degree in Economics from Peking University. He came to Melbourne in 2010 and completed his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne in 2014,
Dr Li says that he was “amazed by the different education system” in Australia and appreciated how his professor always taught him” Yijia, you have to search your position, you have to do what you want to do.”
For the first two years after he graduated, Dr Li worked in a collaborative lab set up between a private Chinese company and Monash University - the first of its kind.
In 2015 Dr Li was appointed the Director of the Yunnan Province Stem Cell Bank in Kunming. Dr Li has successfully developed it into the largest stem cell bank in south western China. The aim of YSCB is to develop stem cell storage, carry out genome research and conduct clinical trials on stem cell treatments for cancer.
Dr Li and his team performed a series of stem cell treatments on a patient who had been suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus for over 8 years and incredibly within 3 days of the first stage of the treatment, the patient was removed from the ventilator and within 6 days was able to leave the hospital. Following the second stage of treatment, the patient has now fully recovered.
Dr Li spends about a quarter of his work time in Melbourne and the remainder in Kunming and when he is not working he loves to play the piano, practice his table tennis skills, and read.
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