Yun-Ju Lai

Yun-Ju Lai, Ph.D., MS, RN, is an Assistant Professor in the Susan and Alan Solomont School of Nursing at the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell. Her research focuses on the interplay between optimism, inflammation, and recovery in stroke and deconditioned populations, as well as the role of inflammation in SARS-CoV-2 infection and cancer. She is a recipient of the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship and was featured in CNN for her groundbreaking work on optimism's impact on stroke recovery.

Education includes a Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center (2019), an MS in Life Science from National Tsing Hua University (2002), and a BSN from the Cizik School of Nursing (2015). Her postdoctoral research at Academia Sinica in Taiwan advanced SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis studies, leading to a filed patent for viral entry inhibitors.

Research interests include mind-body connections in stroke recovery, mental health in cancer patients, and computational approaches to viral pathogenesis. Recent grants include a 2022 study on optimism and veteran rehabilitation outcomes (Bedford VA Collaborative Seed Grant) and a 2022 project on student mental health during the pandemic (Donna Manning Pilot Research Program).

Key achievements include identifying SARS-CoV-2 ACE2 transcriptome interactions and developing biomarker strategies for stroke and cancer patients. Her work bridges nursing science with molecular biology, emphasizing translational research to improve clinical outcomes.