Biochemistry, molecular biology expert, family med physician join UMMC faculty

Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.

Hong Yan Liu, M.D.

Dr. Hong Yan Liu, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the School of Graduate Studies at the Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology.

After earning her B.S. in biochemistry in 1992, her M.S. in biochemistry in 1995 and her Ph.D. in immunology in 2000 at Jilin University, Liu was a postdoctoral fellow in neurology from 2001-02, a postdoctoral fellow in environment and biomolecular systems from 2002-03, a research associate in obstetrics and gynecology from 2003-06 and a senior research associate in biomedical engineering from 2006-08 at the Oregon Health and Science University. An acting instructor in bioengineering at the University of Washington from 2009-13, she has served as an assistant professor at Augusta University since 2014.

An active member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, Liu has served on the editorial board of Frontiers in Oxidant Physiology and Health and Medical Informatics Open Access and as a reviewer for Oncotarget, Cancers, Molecular Pharmaceutics, Scientific Reports. She also has served as an editorial board member and chair for the Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. She is a reviewer of the Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) fellowship.

The author or coauthor of 27 articles in refereed journals and one book chapter, Liu has helped obtain five patents and has given five invited presentations at scientific conferences nationally. She is a recipient of the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) individual postdoctoral fellowship (F32). She obtained a Department of Defense grant for the Prostate Cancer Research Program Idea Development Award.

Amanda Rice, M.D.

Dr. Amanda Rice, a private practice physician with Greater Jackson Physician Group, LLC, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of family medicine.

After receiving her B.S. in biology from Mississippi College in 2001, Rice earned her M.D. at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, in 2008. She then had residency training in categorical family medicine at UMMC from 2008-11.

Rice has served as a private practice physician for Collins Family Practice Clinic, Hattiesburg Clinics, PA, from 2011-13; for Quinn Healthcare, PLLC, Ridgeland, from 2013-15; and for the Greater Jackson Physician Group from 2015-18. She also served as medical director of the Covington County Nursing Home Center from 2012-14 and as an urgent care/after-hours physician at the Immediate Care Clinic from 2011-13.

She is an active member of the American Medical Association, the American Association of Family Physicians and the Mississippi Association of Family Physicians.