Her academic focus includes microbiome, B cell/autoantibody interactions, and disease pathogenesis, with particular emphasis on HIV, addictive drugs, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She is involved in several clinical and translational research projects, including R01DA059854 (Jiang & Sheng), investigating the impacts of drug abuse on autoantibodies and immune reconstitution in HIV. She also works on CSRD Merit I01 CX002422, exploring B cell-mediated immunological failure in HIV-infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy. Additionally, she contributes to NIDA-funded studies, such as R01DA055523, examining the oral microbiome’s effect on cognition in HIV-infected cannabis users, and R01DA059538, investigating HIV persistence in cocaine users. Furthermore, she collaborates on a Translational Science Award project exploring the oral microbiome’s impact on cognition in Alzheimer’s disease.

She earned her M.S. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Case Western Reserve University, Medical School, Cleveland, USA, in 2012. Prior to that, she completed a Postdoctoral fellowship at Case Western Reserve University, Medical School, Cleveland, USA, in 2008. She holds an M.S. in Immunology from Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, which she completed in 2001. She also received her M.D. in Internal Medicine from Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, in 1997.

She has 8 years of clinical experience in infectious diseases and 22 years of translational research experience in disease immunopathogenesis. As a corresponding author, she has published 52 peer-reviewed articles on microbiome and disease immunopathogenesis in high-profile journals like Microbiome, Arthritis & Rheumatology, J Autoimmunity, and EbioMedicine, bringing her total number of peer-reviewed publications to 101. As a physician-scientist, she has served as Principal Investigator on five R01 grants from NIAID or NIDA, along with a VA clinical merit grant, focusing on microbiomes, drug abuse, autoimmunity, and HIV immunopathogenesis. Her research primarily focuses on two major areas. The first is understanding the role of B cell perturbation and autoantibodies in disease pathogenesis, particularly in HIV and SLE. In 2017, her team first determined that autoimmunity impacts antiretroviral therapy outcomes in HIV without inducing autoimmune disease. This concept was later corroborated in studies on COVID-19. Her team is currently developing monoclonal autoantibodies and inhibitors to prevent anti-CD4 autoantibody binding, aiming to improve CD4+ T cell recovery and reduce morbidity in HIV patients. The second area of focus is the role of microbiomes in disease pathogenesis, including HIV, SLE, and drug abuse. She has identified the impact of disease-associated pathobionts on immune perturbations and disease progression, with findings validated in animal models. Her microbiome research is supported by R01DA055523.