Xihao Li

Xihao Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Department of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill). He is affiliated with the Gillings School of Global Public Health and serves as a core faculty member of the Curriculum in Biostatistics and Computational Biology. His research focuses on developing statistical and computational methods for analyzing large-scale genomic and multi-omics data, including scalable meta-analysis of whole-genome sequencing studies and prioritizing causal genetic variants.

Dr. Li received his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Harvard University (2021), followed by postdoctoral training at Harvard under Dr. Xihong Lin. He also holds an M.S. from Harvard (2016) and dual B.S. degrees in Mathematics (Statistics) and Economics from Peking University (2014).

His research interests include functional genomics, integrative analysis of multi-omics data, and methodological advancements for rare variant association studies. He contributes to large consortia such as the NHLBI TOPMed Program and NHGRI IGVF Consortium.

Awards and Honors:

• CHARGE Travel Award (2023)
• ASA Distinguished Student Paper Award (2022)
• Charles J. Epstein Trainee Semifinalist (2020)
• Robert B. Reed Prize (2017)

Software Contributions: He develops open-source tools like STAARpipeline and STAARpipelineSummary for analyzing WGS/WES data, emphasizing scalability and reproducibility.