Unplanned life events sidelined UAMS researcher Chenghui Li, Ph.D., for two years, but since returning in 2020 she has authored or co-authored 33 published papers, thanks largely to a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) re-entry grant.
The NCATS re-entry grants support researchers trying to resume their careers after time away.
Li received the two-year $221,000 grant to support her research into if and why many breast cancer patients in Arkansas are not receiving or adhering to a potentially life-saving hormone treatment known as endocrine therapy.
“I am very thankful for the NCATS supplement. It really helped me restart my career,” said Li, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy Division of Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy, and a member of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute’s Cancer Prevention and Population Services program.
Li applied for the grant with support from UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) Director Laura James, M.D., and her mentor, Laura Hutchins, M.D., professor emerita.
“Dr. Hutchins and I saw Dr. Li as an ideal candidate for the NCATS re-entry award, and she has exceeded our expectations,” James said. “Her remarkable talent and dedication have not only advanced her research but have also contributed meaningfully to her field. Dr. Li has a promising future, and we are excited to see the far-reaching impact of her work.”
TRI is funded by a CTSA (UM1 TR004909) from NCATS, a program of the National Institutes of Health.
Of Li’s 33 published papers, 22 cite NCATS and TRI support. Of those, she was lead author on six papers and corresponding or senior author on 12.
Her research has involved use the Arkansas All Payer Claims Database and Arkansas Cancer Registry database to assess endocrine therapy use for Arkansas women with stage 0-3 estrogen responsive tumors. Patients and providers were also interviewed to determine barriers to endocrine therapy.
Li also received a $220,000 American Cancer Society grant in 2023, which is supporting her assessment of patient challenges in endocrine therapy use after the ACA, which was enacted in 2010 but fully implemented in 2014.
Greater access to health insurance through the ACA, along with price reductions for aromatase inhibitors, may have increased breast cancer patients’ use of the life-saving treatments, she said.