Physician Investigator (Cl) Diabetes, Mass General Research Institute

Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

Assistant Physician Diabetes, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD Duke University School of Medicine 2014

glp-1; pharmacogenetics; polygenic risk; precision medicine; type 2 diabetes

Dr. Li’s research interests are in the pharmacogenetics of type 2 diabetes, with the goal of generating evidence to support the use of genetic information in treatment decision-making. She has examined how genetic variation influences the glycemic response to metformin and sulfonylureas by leveraging data from clinical trials and human physiologic studies. She is leading pharmacogenetic studies in the GRADE clinical trial, and more recently, she has secured NIH funding to study the pharmacogenetics of GLP-1 receptor agonists using electronic health record-linked biobanks. Supplementing this work, she is the principal investigator of a study examining the response to an acute oral semaglutide challenge. She is working to understand how the glycemic and metabolic effects of these medications and impact on downstream complications differ by genetics, with the overarching goal of improving care for patients and advancing precision medicine in type 2 diabetes.