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Alumni

Clinical Fellows

Brittany (Bolduc) Lachance

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2019-2021
Fellow in Neurocritical Care Division
University of Maryland School of Medicine

Brittany (Bolduc) Lachance received her B.S. in Neurosciences and Medical Biology from the University of New England in 2011 and her D.O from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2015. After graduating medical school, Dr. Lachance completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Lahey Clinic (2015-2016), followed by Neurology residency at Boston Medical Center (2016-2019).
She is currently attending Neurocritical Care fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Lachance’s research interests include neuroprognostication, neurological outcomes following cardiac arrest, and medical education in neurology and critical care.

Masoom Desai MD

2016-2017
Fellow in Neurocritical Care Division
University of Maryland School of Medicine

Post Doctoral Fellows

Xiao Liu, MS, MD

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021-2026
Graduation Date: MS (2020), MD (2017)

Dr. Liu obtained her Medical Doctor degree and Master of Science (Neurology) degree from Wuhan University. Dr. Liu finished her residency training in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Critical Care. She has a strong background in electrophysiological assessment of cognitive performance and chronotype, with a focus on cognitive recovery after ion channel diseases, including the comorbidity of migraine and epilepsy. She then became a doctor in Department of Critical Care at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, gaining experience in post-care after cardiac arrest.
Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Jia’s lab at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Her research mainly focuses on treatment (stem cell therapy, targeted temperature management and neuroprotective drugs) for global cerebral ischemia after cardiac arrest and the related mechanisms.

Chunfang Qiu, MD, MS, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2025
Graduation Date: PhD (‘17), MS (‘14), MD (‘11)

Dr. Qiu received her PhD from Sun Yat Sen University, China in 2017. She has worked as a physician in the neurosurgical ICU department for six years. She has a broad background in neurosurgery intensive care medicine, and she has been interested in the neuronal regeneration and repair effects of stem cell therapy on global ischemic brain injury because of cardiac arrest. Dr. Qiu has been working as a postdoc focused on the neuroprotective effects of neuronal stem cells on ischemic brain injury caused by cardiac arrest since September 2023.

Songah Chae, MS, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2025
Graduation Date: PhD (2022), MS (2019)

Dr. Chae earned her PhD in Animal Science from Washington State University in 2022. She worked on Perinatal and Cell Biology, focusing on mechanisms and treatments of metabolic diseases at the cellular and molecular levels, particularly on intestinal health. Mostly, she has experienced a CRISPR-Cas9 genetic modifying tool to establish knock-out/knock-in models.
Her current interest is to see the effect of metabolically glycoengineered (MGE) neural stem cells therapy on brain ischemic injuries after cardiac arrest (CA).

Hui Shen, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2025
Graduation Date: PhD (2023), BS (2017)

Dr. Shen received his PhD in neurobiology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, in 2023. His research has primarily focused on the mechanism and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, particularly on understanding the function of glial cells and stem cells. Currently, he is researching sugar-analog modification of adipose stem cells or extracellular vesicle therapy for treating peripheral nerve injuries.

Wang Zihui, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021-2023

Subash Marasini, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021-2023

Dr. Marasini majored in Biomedical Science (Neuroscience) and received a Ph.D. degree from Ajou University School of Medicine in 2020 (South Korea). During the Ph.D. program, he was involved in research related to the application of gene modified stems cells for the treatment neurological disorders like ischemic stroke, et al. His research at UMB was on the rodent models to develop neuroprotective approaches such as stem cell therapy or hypothermia, and explore the mechanistic pathways involved in the recovery of brain injury after cardiac arrest.

Zhuoran Wang, MD, MS

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2018-2021

Dr. Wang obtained his Medical Doctor degree and master degree in 2010 from Wuhan University and is an attending physician in Intensive Care and a PhD student at the Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University. Currently, he is as a postdoctoral fellow at University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD. His research mainly focuses on brain injury after cardiac arrest.

Xiang Xu, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2019-2021

Dr. Xu obtained his Medical Doctor degree in 2012 and PhD degree in 2015 from Huazhong University of Science & Technology. He has been an attending hand surgeon at the Xiehe Hospital, Huazhong University of Science & Technology.

Songyu Chen, MD, MS

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2020-2021

Dr. Chen obtained his Medical Doctor degree and master's degree in 2015 from Shandong University. He has been a neurosurgeon and a neurointenvist.

Xijie Zhou, MD, MS

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2018-2020

Dr. Zhou obtained his medical degree in 2013 from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University and his master's degree in 2018 from Wenzhou Medical University. He has been a hand surgeon at the Second Affiliated Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University.

Yang Zhang, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2019-2020

Dr. Zhang obtained her Medical Doctor degree in 2003 and PhD degree in 2008 from Shandong University. She has been attending Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Qilu Hospital, Shandong University.

Shuai Zhang, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2019-2020

Dr. Zhang obtained his BSc from Dalian Medical University in 2010 and PhD degree from Peking Union Medical College in 2016. Then, Dr. Zhang joins Shenzhen University as a post-doc researcher from 2016 to 2019. His researches mainly focus on brain energy metabolism in stroke, neuropharmacology and osteoarthritis.

Liming Qing

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2017-2020

Dr. Liming Qing obtained his Medical Doctor degree in 2016 from Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, and he was a physician at Xiangya Hospital. Currently, he is a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow at University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD. His research is mainly focused on molecular and pathological mechanisms of nerve regeneration and vascular aspects of composite tissue allotransplantion.

Xiuli Yang, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2018-2019

Dr. Xiuli Yang received her MD degree in clinical medicine from Yanbian University Medical College, China in 2005, and PhD in Neuroscience from Seoul National University Hospital, Korea, in 2017. From 2007 to 2010, Dr. Yang received residency training in Qingdao Center Medical Group, China. From September 2017 to December 2017, she worked in The George Institute for Global Health at Peking University Health Science Center as a senior research fellow. Since 2018, Dr. Yang worked as a research fellow in University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her research interests include translational neuroscience, with a focus on neuroprotection after stroke and global brain ischemia, nerve injury and neural stem cells research in animal models as well as clinical research.

Di Zhang, MD, MS

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2017-2018

Dr. Zhang obtained his Medical Doctor degree in 2017 from Wenzhou Medical University and is a spine surgeon at the Second Affiliated Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University. Currently, he is a postdoctoral fellow at University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD. His research mainly focuses on molecular and pathological mechanisms of spinal cord injury.