Dr. Tengfei Li, a Research Assistant Professor in Radiology at UNC-Chapel Hill, has received a prestigious research award from the National Institute on Aging. This five-year grant, totaling $707,675, will support Dr. Li’s work on improving early detection and prognosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Li’s project, titled “Tracking brain structural trajectories for early detection and prognosis of Alzheimer’s Disease,” will run from September 1, 2025 to May 31, 2030. His research focuses on using advanced statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to better understand how the brain changes over time—especially in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

What makes this work especially exciting is that Dr. Li is developing a kind of “growth chart” for the brain. Just like pediatricians use growth charts to track a child’s development, these brain charts could help doctors spot unusual changes in brain structure before symptoms of Alzheimer’s appear. This could lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses, which is a major goal of the Duke/UNC ADRC.

Dr. Li brings a strong background in statistics and data science, and his work has already been published in top journals like Science and Nature Genetics. With mentorship from Dr. Hongtu Zhu and a team of expert advisors, Dr. Li is working toward becoming a leader in Alzheimer’s research.

His career development goals include:

• Understanding how Alzheimer’s develops over a lifetime
• Creating new AI tools to analyze brain scans
• Learning to work with large, multi-center datasets
• Translating research into tools that can be used in clinics

We’re thrilled to see Dr. Li’s work recognized and supported at the national level.

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Read the original announcement from UNC Radiology.