Curriculum Vitae: Wen-Hsiung Li
Mailing address: Dept of Ecology & Evolution, University of Chicago,
1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL60637, USA
Phone: 773-702-3104 Fax: 773-702-9740
Email:
Birth Date and Place: 22 September 1942; Ping-Tung, Taiwan
Nationality: U.S. Citizen Family Status: Married, three children
EDUCATION:
Institution Degree Field Year
Chung-Yuang College of Science B.E. Civil Engineering 1965
and Engineering, Taiwan
National Central University, Taiwan M.S. Geophysics 1968
BrownUniversity, Providence, RI, USA Ph.D. Applied Math/Genetics 1972
PRESENT APPOINTMENT:
James D. Watson Professor 2004-
Dept of Ecology & Evolution, the University of Chicago
POSITIONS HELD IN THE PAST:
George Beadle Professor 1999-2004
Dept of Ecology & Evolution, the University of Chicago
Professor, with tenure, 1984-1998
Betty Wheless Trotter Professor in Medical Sciences, 1996-1998
HumanGeneticsCenter,The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston
Associate Professor of Population Genetics, with tenure, 1978-1984
Assistant Professor of Population Genetics, 1973-1978
Center for Demographic and Population Genetics, GraduateSchool of
Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston
Project Associate, Medical Genetics, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, 1972-1973
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
Editor, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 1991 –
Editor, PloS Computational Biology 2005-
Associate Editor, Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, 2003-
Editorial Board, Zoological Studies, 1993 -
Editorial Board, Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 1993 –
Scientific Advisory Board, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, 2000-
Overseers Committee, the Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Harvard, 2000-
Co-Chair, Board of Advisors, ResearchCenter for Biodiversity, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2004 -
Academic Advisor, Institute of Organismic and Cell Biology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2004 –
Academic Advisor, Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 2004 –
President, Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2000
President, Bioinformatics Society of Taiwan. 2005-2007.
Associate Editor, Theoretical Population Biology, 1981 - 1986
Editorial Board, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 1983 - 1993
Editorial Board, Journal of Molecular Evolution, 1984 - 1997
Associate Editor, Genetics, 1986 - 1997
Editorial Board, Mathematical Biosciences, 1990 - 2003
Editor, Gene, 1997 - 2001
Associate Editor, Journal of Molecular Evolution, 1998 -2004
Area Editor (Evolution & Comparative Genomics) Encycl. of Human Genome, Macmillian 1999-2002
Associate, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Program in Evolutionary Biology,
1992 - 1997
Academic Advisor, Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 1997 - 2004
Academic Advisor, Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 1997 - 2004
Academic Advisor, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Evolution,
Kunming Institute of Zoology, The ChineseAcademy of Sciences, 1997 -2002
AWARDS and HONORS:
Balzan Prize 2003 for Genetics and Evolution
Member, NationalAcademy of Sciences 2003-
Fellow, AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences 1999-
Academician, Academia Sinica, Taiwan 1998-
President, Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2000
Horace Mann Medal 2004
George Beadle Professor, University of Chicago 1999-
Betty Wheless Trotter Professor in Medical Sciences, UT Houston, 1996-1998
Associate, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Program in
Evolutionary Biology, 1992 - 1997
Fellowship, National Long Term Development of Sciences, Taiwan, 1966, 1967
BrownUniversity Fellowship for Graduate Students, 1968 - 1969
Dean's Excellent Teaching Award, University of Texas-Houston, 1989, 1994, 1995, and 1996
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
American Society of Human Genetics (life member since 1972)
The Society for the Study of Evolution (life member since 1973)
Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (1983-)
Society of Systematic Biology (Life member, 1990-)
Genetics Society of America (1972-1998)
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Evolutionary Genomics, Molecular Evolution, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Population Genetics, Human Genetics
INTERVIEWS BY SCIENCE AND NEWS MEDIA
Science, on molecular clocks, 1985 PNAS paper, May 1985
BBC TV, on ``Origins and evolution of AIDS viruses", June 1990
New York Times, UPI, Washington Post, Toronto Sun, Dallas Morning News,
and many other newspapers on Nature paper ``Is the guinea pig a rodent?" June
1991
BBC TV, National Public Radio and AAAS radio on ``Is the guinea pig a
rodent?" June 1991
Discover, it rated our paper as one of the top 50 stories in science in
1991
AAAS Annual Meeting News Release (on Molecular clocks), February 1992
UT TV and Radio, September 1992
On Nature 1993 paper on Male-driven Evolution of DNA Sequences:
Associate Press, USA Today, Houston Post, April 21, 1993
NBC Radio, and BBC TV, April 22, 1993
Science (267:1907-1908) on ``Evolution slowing down in humans", March
31, 1995
On ``Adaptive evolution of color vision genes", Science 1995 paper
Monday Morning, University of Texas, August 27, 1995
WAMC Radio Station. AlbanyNew York, October 2, 1995
On ``Evolution of color vision in higher primates"
Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1997
On ``Male-driven evolution in birds"
Science
On “Trichromatic vision in prosimians”.
Chronicle, University of Chicago, and CNN, Nov. 1999
On “Evolutionary analyses of the Human Genome”, Nature Feb. 15, 2001
Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Time, Dallas Morning Star, SicienceNews, NewsRx (Genomics
and Genetics), etc.
Male-driven evolution, Nature April 11, 2002
Chicago tribune, Chronicle
The chimpanzee genome News and Views article: Interviewed by The Scientist, National Geographic, Bloomberg News and Chicago Tribune. August 30-31, 2005
Interviewed by Science for the PNAS paper on color vision genes in primates. Sept. 23, 2005.
INVITED TALKS SINCE 1992
1992
Speaker, Conference on ``Origins and molecular evolution of angiosperms",
Köln, Germany, January 13-15.
Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, January
Max-Plank-Institut für Immungenetik, Tübigen, Germany, January
Speaker, Symposium on ``Molecular Evolutionary Rates, Patterns and Process", The
AAAS Annual Meeting, Chicago, Feb. 6-11.
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago. February.
Galton Laboratory of Genetics, UniversityCollegeLondon, London, England, March.
Speaker, Symposium on ``Genome sequence variation", The Genetical Society (UK)
Spring Meeting, Dublin, Ireland, March 25-27.
Department of Microbiology, University of Texas-San Antonio, April 14-16.
Speaker, Workshop on ``Optimal sampling of human populations for molecular
analysis", StanfordUniversity, July 16 - 18.
Speaker, The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Evolutionary Biology
Program Annual Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 12-15.
Speaker, NATO Workshop on ``Genome Organization, Function and Evolution",
Spetsai, Greece, September 16-21.
Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Köln, Germany, Sept. 21-23.
Department of Biology, University of Houston, Texas, Oct. 29.
Institute of Molecular Biolgy, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 30
Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, December.
Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, December.
Speaker, ``30th Anniversary Symposium on Recent Advances in Plant
Science", Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Dec. 7-11.
Speaker, ``Seminar on Molecular Evolution", Rotorua, New Zealand, December 12-14.
Speaker, ``Forum on phylogenetic reconstruction", MasseyUniversity, Palmerston
North, New Zealand, Dec. 15 to 18.
Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, December
1993
Department of Biology, YaleUniversity, New Haven, March
Speaker, International Symposium on ``Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics",
Mishima, Japan, April 16 -17.
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley,
April 20-21.
Co-Organizer and speaker, Symposium on ``Molecular Aspects of Vertebrates
Evolution", Annual Meeting of Society for the Study of Evolution", Snowbird, Utah,
June 19-23
Speaker, International Symposium ``Models in Phylogeny Reconstruction", London,
August 2 -4.
Convener, Workshop on ``Phylogenetic analysis of sequences", 17th International
Congress of Genetics, Birmingham, UK, August 15-21.
Speaker, Symposium on ``Molecular Phylogenies", ``4th Congress of the European
Society for Evolutionary Biology", August 22-27.
Speaker, Conference on ``Population Genetics", Canadian Institute for Advanced
Research, August 27-29.
Dept of Statistics, OhioStateUniversity, Columbus, Oct. 14-15
Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, Oct. 18-19.
Speaker, Annual Meeting, Canadian Insitute for Advanced Research, Banff,
Canada, Oct. 19-24.
1994
Dept of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, Mar. 14-15.
Speaker, Workshop on ``Handling of Molecular Data in Systematics", Cologne,
Germany, Mar. 27-31.
Speaker, Workshop on ``Open questions in molecular evolution", The International
Society of Molecular Evolution. Guanacaste, Costa Rica, April 18-23.
Organizer and speaker, Symposium on ``Recent advances in molecular phylogenetics",
26th International Numerical Taxonomy Conference, Houston, June 17-19.
Speaker, Annual Meeting, Canadian Insitute for Advanced Research, Halifax,
Canada, August 10-14.
Speaker, Symposium on ``The evolution of homeotic and other morphogenetic genes and
organismal phylogeny", International Institute for Advanced Studies. Kyoto, Japan,
Oct. 26-28.
Dept of Bioscience, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan.
Dept of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, EmoryUniversity, Atlanta, Dec. 5-6
Speaker, ``Symposium and Workshop on Molecular Systematics and Evolution",
Sponsored by National Science Council, Dec. 19 - 22, Taipei, Taiwan
Institute of Statistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, December.
Dept of Biology, Tung-HaiUniversity, Taichung, Taiwan, December.
Dept of Biology, NationalSunYat-senUniversity, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, December.
1995
Speaker, Symposium on ``Uniqueness and diversity in biology", sponsored by UNESCO and World Institute of Science, Paris, Jan. 10-13.
Speaker, ``Molecular Anthropology: Toward a new Evolutionary Paradigm", Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, March 13-14.
Dept of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, March
Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, March
Speaker, International Conference on HIV Sequence Variation and Statistical Methods. RutgersUniversity, Piscataway, New Jersey, May 3-5.
Section of Genetics and Development, CornellUniversity, Ithaca, May
Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, May
The AaronDiamondAIDSResearchCenter, University of New York, New York, JuneSpeaker, ``EMBO Practical Course on Computer-based sequence analysis and Molecular Evolution", Lyon, France, June 26 - July 1.
Speaker, ``DNA Structure and Biological Evolution", 3rd Taipei
International Symposium on ``Statistical Physics: Nonlinear and Nonrandom
Processes", Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, July 18-24.
Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, July
Dept of Medical Genetics, PekingUnionMedicalCollege, Beijing, China, Oct. 11-12
Speaker, ``Symposium on Mechanisms of Evolution", Taian, Shantung,China, October
14-17.
Speaker, ``Symposium on Molecular Evolution", FudanUniversity, Shanghai, China,
October 20-21.
Kunming Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, China, Oct. 23-26
Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, ZhejiangMedicalUniversity, Hangzhou,
China, Oct. 27-29
Genetics Program, TexasA&MUniversity, College Station, Texas, Nov. 2
Speaker, Symposium on ``Diversity of homeotic genes and evolution of the eye",
International Institute for Advanced Studies. Kyoto, Japan, Nov. 17-18.
Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, November.
Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, November.
Dept of Zoology, NationalTaiwanUniversity, Taipei, Taiwan, November.
Institute of Life Sciences, NationalTsingHuaUniversity, Hsinchu, Taiwan, November.
Institute of Life Sciences, NationalSunYat-senUniversity, Kaohsiung, Taiwan,
November.
1996
Speaker, Gordon Research Conference in Molecular Evolution, Ventura, California, Jan.
28 - Feb. 2.
Dept of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Feb. 2-3.
Keynote Speaker, Symposium on "Culture as well as Biological Affinities among the
indigenous Peoples of Taiwan and Southeast Asia", Institute of Ethnology, Academia
Sinica, Taipei, May 21-23.
Speaker, 4th International Meeting, the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution,
Tucson, Arizona, June 8-11.
Speaker, Society of Systematic Biologists Symposium, WashingtonUniversity, St. Louis,
June 19-23.
Speaker, Joint Statistical Meetings, Chicago, Aug. 4-8.
Speaker and Organizer, Symposium on "Processes of Molecular Evolution", 5th
International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, Budapest, Aug. 17-24.
Speaker, Workshop on "Primate Evolution", 9th International Congress of Human
Genetics, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 18-23.
Dept of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Para, Belem, Brazil, Aug. 23-25.
Instituto de Medicina Tropical da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo,
Sao Paulo, Brazil, Aug. 23-25.
Speaker, Workshop on "Statistical Analysis of Molecular Data", National Taiwan
UniversityMedicalSchool, Sept. 8-10.
Dept of Life Sciences, NationalTsingHuaUniversity, Hsin Chu, Taiwan Sept. 11.
Speaker, Horizontal Gene Transfer: Implications and Consequences, Fallen LeaveLake
Conference, South Lake Tahoe, California. Sept. 12-15.
Dept of Ecology and Evolution, Unversity of Chicago, Chicago, Nov. 18-20.
1997
Speaker, Symposium on "Junk DNA: The role and evolution of noncoding sequences",
The International Society of Molecular Evolution. Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Jan. 6-10.
Workshop on "Human DNA Sequence Variation", National Human Genome Research
Institute, Bethesda, March 31 - April 1
Dept of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park, April 2
Dept of Statistics, North CarolinaStateUniversity, Railegh, April 3.
Speaker, Mini-Symposium on "The Genetics of Sensory Perception", DukeUniversity,
April 4-5
Speaker, "Statistics in Health Sciences", the Institute of Mathematics and its Application,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, July 6 - 11.
Speaker, Colloquium on "Computational Bimolecular Science", NationalAcademy of
Sciences, Irvine, California, Sept. 11-13.
Workshop on "Development and Evolution", Madrid, Spain, Nov. 2 to 5.
Sponsored by Instituto Juan March de Estudios e Investigaciones, and the European
Molecular Biology Organization
Speaker, Symposium on computational Sciences, "Bioinformatics:from Experiment to
Biological Knowledge", Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland, Dec. 11-13.
1998
Discussion leader, Gordon Research Conf. on "Molecular Evolution", Ventura, California,
Jan. 25 - 30.
Department of Mathematics, RiceUniversity, Houston, April 8.
Department of Botany, University of Texas-Austin, April 16-17.
Department of Statistics, Southern MethodistUniversity, Dallas, May 1.
Department of Zoology, NationalTaiwanUniversity, Taipei, Taiwan, June 12.
Speaker, DNA Sequence Analysis Workshop, Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan, June 15-17.
Speaker, 18th International Congress of Genetics, Beijing, China, Aug. 10-15.
Speaker, "Genetics and Conservation of Biodiversity", Kunming Satellite Conf., Kunming,
China, Aug. 16-18.
Speaker, "Fukuoka International Symposium of Population Genetics", Fukuoka, Japan,
Aug. 19-23.
Speaker, "Y-Chromosome in Disease and Evolution", The BanburyCenter, Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory, Oct. 13-16.
Speaker, Symposium in Conjuction with the International Prize for Biology, Tokyo,
Japan, Dec. 7-10.
1999
Speaker, Symposium on "Statistical physics and DNA sequence data analyses", sponsored by the
National Science Council of Taiwan, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, Jan. 18-22.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, NationalSunYat-SenUniversity, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, April
19.
Speaker, Symposium on "Molecular clocks", Evolution Annual Meeting, Madison, Wisconsin, June
22-27.
Department of Genetics and Evolution, La Trobe, Australia, July 19.
Organizer and speaker, Symposium "Statistical methods for DNA sequence analyses and
phylogenetic reconstruction", VII Congress of European Society of Evolutionary Biology,
Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 22-28.
Organizer and speaker, Syposium "Human DNA polymorphism and evolution", IVth International
Congress of Ales Hrdlicka "World Anthropology at the Turn of the Centuries". Prague, Czech
Republic, Aug. 31- Sept. 4
Chair, "Comparative Genomics", Gordon Research Conference on Molecular Evolution, Haiyama,
Japan, Oct. 24-28.
Speaker, Workshop on "Human DNA Variation and Evolution", Academia Sinica, Taiwan, Nov. 24-26.
2000
Speaker, “Evolution 2000”, Tokyo, Japan, March 5 - 7.
Speaker, Banbury Center Conference on “Great apes: phenotypes and genotypes”, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, March 19-22.
Speaker, Annual Meeting of Environmental Mutagen Society, New Orleans, April 8-13.
Speaker, 69th Annual Meeting, American Association of Physical Anthropologists, San Antonio, Texas, April 10-15.
Speaker, Workshop on “Neutralism and selectionism: the end of a debate?”, Stazione Zoologica of Naples, Italy, May 4-6.
Nei Lecture, Annual Meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, June 17-20.
Seminar, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. July 1.
Seminar, Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. July 10.
Seminar, Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. July 10.
Seminar, Dept. of Life Science, NationalTsin-HuaUniversity, Hsinchu, Taiwan. July 11.
Seminar, Dept of Biology, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Sept. 13.
Seminar, Dept of Anthropology, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA. Sept. 28.
Speaker, Workshop on “Mutators and Mutability”, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 21-26.
Seminar, NationalCenter for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, Oct. 26-27.
Lecture series, TheoreticalCenter, NationalTsinHuaUniversity, Dec. 8 to 18.
2001
Speaker, Genes and Minds Initiative Workshop, Tokyo, March 13-15.
Speaker, Pharmacia-UpJohn, Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 26.
Speaker, Spring School on “Population Genetics and Molecular Evolution”, Humboldt University, Berlin, April 9-11.
Speaker, Development and Evolution: the effect of gene and genome duplications, German Genetics
Society. Wittenberg, Germany, April 19-22.
Speaker, Jacques Monod Conference on “Gene duplications and the evolution of novel gene functions”, Aussois, France, April 26-30.
Speaker, Symposium on “Primate Evolutionary Genetics”, American Genetic Association, San Diego, May 19-20.
Speaker, “Comparative Biology and Evolution Symposium”, PanAmerican Society for Pigment Cell Research. Minnesota. June 14-17 (K. Makova gave the talk).
Speaker, TSMC Conference on Bioinformatics, NationalChao-TungUniversity, Aug. 1.
Speaker, “Evolutionary Genomics Symposium”, American Chinese Biologist Association, Taipei
Aug. 6-10.
Speaker, Summer Institute on Bioinformatics, Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. Aug. 3-17.
Speaker, “Gene and Genome Duplications and the Evolution of Novel Gene functions”, European Society for Evolutionary Biology. Aarhus, Denmark. Aug. 20-26.
Speaker, the 5th Anton Dohrn Workshop on “Natural Selection and Neutral Theory ”, Naples, Italy, October 28-30.
Speaker, Symposium on "Evolutionary Genomics - New Paradigm of Biology in the 21st Century": Atami, Japan. Nov. 4-7.
Speaker, "Molecular Evolution Conference": Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. Dec. 26-28.
2002
Speaker, Workshop on “Genes, Peoples and Languages”, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, UCLA. Feb. 11 – 15.
Speaker, the Post-Genome Knowledge Discovery Program, the Institute for Mathematical Sciences, NationalUniversity of Singapore. March 25-30.
Seminar, BioinformaticsResearchCenter, Medical College of Wisconsin, April 18.
Seminar, Dept of Biology, PennState, May 13-15.
Speaker, the CTS-DIMACS joint conference, NationalCenter for Theoretical Sciences. Hsin-Chu. Taiwan. May 24-26.
Speaker (plenary), “Molecular Evolution”, Joint International Conference of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution and the International Society of Molecular Evolution. Sorrento, Italy. June 13-17.
Organizer and Speaker, Workshop on Mathematical Models in Genetics and Molecular Biology. NationalCenter for Theoretical Sciences. NationalTsing-HuaUniversity. June 27-30.
Participant, NSF “Genomics of Human Origins” Workshop. Washington, DC. July 22-23.
Discussion leader, Gordon Research Conference on “Genomics & Structural/Evolutionary Bioinformatics”, MountHolyokeCollege, South Hadley, MA. July 28-Aug. 2.
Seminar, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, England. Nov. 5.
Seminar, Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh. Nov. 6.