He received his B.S. in Biology at Najing University in China and received his Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Physiology in 1990. He completed postdoctoral training at Beijing Medical University in China, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and John Hopkins Medical School in Maryland. He has had a total of 95 publications in many premiere science journals including Nature Neuroscience, Nature Medicine, and Neuron. He has also has 22 publications in The Journal of Neuroscience. His main research interests are in neural-glial interaction in chronic pain, mechanisms of neuropathic pain, and pain regulation by MAP kinases, metalloproteases, cytokines, and chemokines.