Rong Li
Rong Li, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Director of the Center for Cell Dynamics at The Johns Hopkins University, was chosen by the ASCB Women in Cell Biology Committee for the 2019 Sandra K. Masur Senior Leadership Award for her research achievements, leadership, and mentorship.
Li is a leading expert in cellular dynamics in space, time, and adaptation. She has produced key discoveries on mitotic cell division, aneuploidy and cellular evolution, actin cytoskeleton and cell motility, cell polarity, and cellular quality control and aging.
Her leadership skills were enumerated by Susan Michaelis, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in a letter of support. Michaelis said that under Li’s leadership, the Center for Cell Dynamics has become completely re-energized, through new hires, exciting seminar programs, and many new collaborative initiatives.
Li has trained over 20 PhD students and postdocs, many of whom are now in independent positions in academia and industry. One of those postdocs was Roland Wedlich-Söldner, now the head of the Institute of Cell Dynamics and Imaging, University of Münster, Germany. He noted in his letter of support: “For me, she created the perfect scientific environment—on the one hand absolute scientific freedom to pursue any experiment I wanted, but at the same time providing efficient advice whenever I required it.”
About the Author:
Thea Clarke is the Director of Communications and Education at the American Society for Cell Biology.