Yongqing Li is a plant biologist at the South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After earning a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Peking University (1998-2002), she studied salt-tolerant transgenic rice under Dr. Li-jia Qu. This sparked her interest in plant–environment interactions, leading to a Ph.D. in Botany at Cornell (2002-2008) with Dr. Jian Hua, where she linked Arabidopsis immunity to chromatin remodeling. Post-doctoral work at UC Berkeley (2008-2011) with Dr. Shauna Somerville uncovered Arabidopsis resistance to powdery mildew via the PEN pathway. Since 2011, her team has elucidated cross-talk between biotic and abiotic stress signaling, advanced phytoremediation of heavy-metal soils, and developed disease-resistant, nutrient-rich crops. Since 2018, she has focused on medicinal plants, decoding biosynthetic pathways of therapeutic secondary metabolites and leading germplasm conservation efforts. She also serves as Deputy Secretary-General of the Guangdong Botanical Society.