Dr. Songjun Li

Biography

Songjun William (Will) Li, MD, PhD, is a psychiatry resident in Yale's Neuroscience Research Training Program. He graduated from Emory University with a bachelor's degree, double majoring in music performance and neuroscience behavioral biology. He studied the neurobiological basis of relational memory formation in a Rhesus macaque model under the guidance of Dr. Beth Buffalo. During college, he joined Dr. Leslie Ungerleider’s lab at the National Institute of Mental Health to investigate facial processing. He later moved to Boston, where he continued his studies at Boston University School of Medicine, completing his PhD dissertation under Dr. Ziv Williams at Massachusetts General Hospital, evaluating single-neuronal responses in complex social decision-making in mice. His research has revealed a putative executive mechanism within the prefrontal cortical network that allows animals to evaluate social information adaptively, influencing pro-social decisions, competitive effort, and sociability. Will's current research interests aim to build understanding of the brain processes that encode socially motivated behaviors, uncovering mechanisms that may go awry in psychosocial disorders using rodent models, and exploring novel treatment options, including neuromodulation and psychedelics, to restore behavioral function. He is also interested in optimizing digital tools and wearable technologies to detect and track psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, OCD, and PTSD.

Research Interests

Experience