Jian Li is Head of the Antimicrobial Systems Pharmacology Laboratory at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He has also been a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in Pharmacology and Toxicology (2015-2017).

Jian has an internationally leading track record in the pharmacology of polymyxins and the discovery of new antibiotics against Gram-negative ‘superbugs’. The majority of modern polymyxin pharmacology data were reported by his research group and he is the Editor-in-Chief of the first-ever book on polymyxins (Springer Nature, 2019).

His research has led to the first scientifically-based dosing recommendations for colistin and his new-generation polymyxin molecules have been licensed to Qpex Biopharma for IND-enabling evaluations.

Jian has authored 323 publications – including 225 on polymyxin alone – with over 16,000 citations and an h-index of 63. He is an editor of the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, BMC Microbiology and Frontiers in Microbiology and is an invited reviewer for 178 international journals and 17 international funding bodies.

Jian has received numerous awards, including National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)’s Ten of the Best Research Projects (2015) and the Jacques Miller Medal for Experimental Biomedicine by the Australian Academy of Science (2017).

Jian obtained his PhD from the University of South Australia in 2002 and completed his postdoctoral training at Monash University.