STAGE ISSS: Li Li

Join us for the next instalment of the STAGE International Speaker Seminar Series (ISSS) with

Li Li

Water M. Seward Professor
Chair of Department of Family Medicine
University of Virginia

Talk Title:

Racial Disparities and Precision Prevention of Colon Neoplasia

Abstract:

There are well-documented racial differences in age-of-onset and laterality of colorectal cancer. Epigenetic age acceleration is postulated to be an underlying factor. However, comparative studies of side-specific colonic tissue epigenetic aging are lacking. Here, we performed DNA methylation analysis of matched right and left biopsies of normal colon from 128 individuals. Among African Americans (n = 88), the right colon showed accelerated epigenetic aging as compared with individual-matched left colon (1.51 years; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.62 to 2.40 years; 2-sided P =.001). In contrast, among European Americans (n = 40), the right colon shows remarkable age deceleration (1.93 years; 95% CI = 0.65 to 3.21 years; 2-sided P =.004). Further, epigenome-wide analysis of DNA methylation identifies a unique pattern of hypermethylation in African American right colon. Our study is the first to report such race and side-specific differences in epigenetic aging of normal colon, providing novel insight into the observed younger age-of-onset and relative preponderance of right-side colon neoplasia in African Americans.

Speaker Profile:

Li Li, MD, PhD, is an expert in primary care, population health and clinical translational research. He is chair of the UVA Department of Family Medicine, director of population health and co-director of the Cancer Prevention and Population Health program.

Li earned both his master’s in public health and medical degree from Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, Hubei, P.R. China. He then went to the University of Southern California, where he obtained a master of science in applied biometry and a doctoral degree in preventative medicine. He also pursued a fellowship in cancer prevention at the National Cancer Institute, followed by family medicine training at the University of Kentucky.

During his career, Li has established multiple cancer and population health research programs (the Cleveland Colon Screening and Risk Factors Study, the Kentucky Colon Cancer Genetic Epidemiology Study and the Zhabei Health 2020 Study). He also co-led a $3 million National Institutes of Health grant aimed to help us understand the genetic, lifestyle, and community factors that drive the significant racial disparities that exist for colorectal cancer.

Prior to arriving at UVA, Li was an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine and tenured as a full professor of family medicine. In addition, Li was a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and environmental health sciences.

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