Hong Liu, MD, Associate Professor, Director, Clinical Anesthesia Research, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine; Director, International Partnerships, University of California, Davis Health System, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA

Dr. Liu received his medical education from Suzhou Medical College (Soochow University) and Nanjing Medical College (Nanjing Medical University). Following his graduation in 1987, he became an Assistant Professor in Surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Suzhou Medical College where he went to work as a cardiothoracic surgeon and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1989.  Dr. Liu spent the following year as a visiting surgeon in Cardiac Surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California where he focused on both research and patient care involving heart transplants and various cardiac surgeries. From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Liu was awarded funding from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health to conduct research at UC Davis School of Medicine.  His research focused on myocardial ischemia/hypoxia injuries, especially in Na/H exchange inhibition, and hypertonic saline and ischemic preconditioning in preventing myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury.  He later joined the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine where he is currently an Associate Professor engaging in both basic science/clinical research and clinical practice.  Dr. Liu is board certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology and specializes in cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia. He is also board certified in perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. His research interests continue to be in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury; specifically the roles of anesthetic preconditioning on inflammation and apoptosis, the affect of aging on the myocardial protection against ischemia/reperfusion injury, and myocardial gene expressions in anesthetic preconditioning. Dr. Liu’s other interests include clinical outcome studies, evidence based medicine, and translational medicine. He also serves as a member of the UC Davis Institutional Review Board Committee.