Dr. Mengmeng Li is an associate professor at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC). Before joining SYSUCC in 2020 through the "100 Top Talents Program," she served as a postdoctoral scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO). As a cancer epidemiologist, Dr. Li is dedicated to advancing research on cancer prevention. She currently leads several national and provincial projects as the principal investigator. Her current research focuses on cancer overdiagnosis, lung cancer screening, and health impacts of environmental factors. 

2018 PhD Epidemiology and Biostatistics Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; Peking Union Medical College

2015 MSc Epidemiology and Biostatistics Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

2012 BSc (Honours) Preventive Medicine Hebei Medical University

2.Vaccarella S*, Li M*, Bray F, Kvale R, Serraino D, Lorenzoni V, Auvinen A, Dal Maso L. Prostate cancer incidence and mortality in Europe and implications for screening activities: population based study. BMJ. 2024;386:e077738. [*Co-first]
3.Li M, Zheng R, Dal Maso L, Zhang S, Wei W, Vaccarella S. Mapping overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer in China. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, 2021, 9(6): 330-332
4.Li M, Dal Maso L, Vaccarella S. Global trends in thyroid cancer incidence and the impact of overdiagnosis. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, 2020, 8: 468-470. 
5.Li M, Cao SM, Dimou N, Wu L, Li JB, Yang J. Association of Metabolic Syndrome With Risk of Lung Cancer: A Population-Based Prospective Cohort Study. Chest. 2024;165(1):213-223. 
6.Wu L, Yang J, Chen Y, Lin J, Huang W, Li M. Association of circulating metabolic biomarkers with risk of lung cancer: a population-based prospective cohort study. BMC Med. 2025;23(1):176. 
7.Li M, Zhang L, Charvat H, Callister ME, Sasieni P, Christodoulou E, Kaaks R, Johansson M, Carvalho AL, Vaccarella S, Robbins HA. The influence of postscreening follow-up time and participant characteristics on estimates of overdiagnosis from lung cancer screening trials. Int J Cancer. 2022;151(9):1491-1501.
8.Li M, Park JY, Sheikh M, Kayamba V, Rumgay H, Jenab M, Narh CT, Abedi-Ardekani B, Morgan E, de Martel C, McCormack V, Arnold M. Population-based investigation of common and deviating patterns of gastric cancer and oesophageal cancer incidence across populations and time. Gut. 2023;72(5):846-854.
9.Li M, Cao S, Xu RH. Global trends and epidemiological shifts in gastrointestinal cancers: insights from the past four decades. Cancer Commun. 2025. doi: 10.1002/cac2.70017. 
10.Warnakulasuriya S, Cronin-Fenton D, Jinot J, Kamangar F, Malekzadeh R, Dar NA, Etemadi A, Fortini P, Glass DC, Khanjani N, Kikura-Hanajiri R, Malats N, Pourshams A, Rahimi-Movaghar A, Richardson DB, Sewram V, Girschik J, Turner MC, Suonio E, Grosse Y, Benbrahim-Tallaa L, Sheikh M, Hosseini B, Li M, Mattock H, Guyton KZ, Schubauer-Berigan MK. Carcinogenicity of opium consumption. Lancet Oncol, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30611-2.