He is also a Showalter Scholar selected by the Showalter Trust Fund and IU School of Medicine. Prior to his appointment at Indiana University, he got his B.S. in Biology from Shandong Normal University, M.S. in Genetics from Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, and Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular and Developmental Biology from the Ohio State University. He also received postdoctoral training in diabetes and metabolism from Joslin Diabetes Center and Children's Hospital Boston of Harvard Medical School. He was promoted to instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.