Cheng-Ta Li, M.D., Ph.D  

Chief, Division of Community and Rehabilitation Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Professional Summary

Dr. Li was born in Taichung. He completed his residency at Taipei Veterans General Hospital and obtained the PhD degree from NYMU Institute of Brain Science. He visited Molecular Imaging Branch in NIMH (mentor: Dr. Robert Innis) and stayed there for a year to study neuroimaging techniques (e.g. PET). In recent years, his research interests are on brain stimulation (e.g. repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and theta-burst stimulation) and brain neuroimaging. He has published more than 180 SCI papers and many of them are in top-ranking journals such as Brain, Cerebral Cortex, Human Brain Mapping, Neuroimaging, British Journal of Psychiatry, Bipolar disorders, Sleep, Molecular Psychiatry, and Biological Psychiatry. He introduces the idea of hypofrontality to treatment-resistant unipolar depression (TRD), the correlation between TRD and bipolar disorders in epidemiology and neuroimaging, and invents advanced interventions for mood disorders. He also devotes himself in theta-burst stimulation and low-dose ketamine treatment for TRD. Until now, he has received more than thirty national and international awards (including 2018 MOST excellent research award) and is serving as a peer reviewer for many SCI journals and govement grants/awards. 

 

Current position:

Chief, Division of Community and Rehabilitation Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Attending psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Chief, Functional Neuroimaging and Brain Stimulation Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Professor, School of Medicine and Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University

Professor, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University

Council member, Taiwanese Society of Biological Psychiatry and Neuropsychopharmacology

Convener, Brain Electromagnetic Stimulation and Treatment team

Executive council member, Taiwanese Society of Psychiatry

Board member, MOST projects and excellent research awards

 

Education:

MD, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University

PhD, Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University

 

Experience：

Intern, Taichung Veterans General Hospital

Resident, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital Yuli Branch

Resident, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Chief resident, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Fellow, Functional Neuroimaging and Brain Stimulation Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Fellow, Molecular Imaging Branch (MIB), National Institute of Mental Health, U.S.

Fellow, Division of Community and Rehabilitation Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Board member, Counseling committee for mental illness, department of health, Taipei City

Chief Executive Officer, TVGH affiliated Sheltered Workshop for the disabled

 

Certification：

Certified by Taiwanese Society of Psychiatry

 

Membership:

Member, Society of Biological Psychiatry

Deputy Secretary-general, Taiwanese Society of Biological Psychiatry and Neuropsychopharmacology

Member, Taiwanese Society of Psychiatry

Member, Taiwanese Society of Geriatric Psychiatry

Member, Taiwan Dementia Society

Member, International Society for Bipolar Disorders(2012-)

Member, Taiwan Society of Cognitive Neuroscience(2013-)

Secretory-general, Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology(2015-)

 

Expertise：

Neurosis, psychosomatic diseases, depression, dysautonomia, treatment refractory depression, bipolar disorders, panic disorder, anxiety, insomnia, chronic somatic symptoms (e.g. pain), schizophrenia, rTMS/TBS

 

Selected publications：

1.      Cheng-Ta Li, Ya-Mei Bai, Yu-Lin Huang, Ying-Sheue Chen, Tzeng-Ji Chen, Ju-Yin Cheng, Tung-Ping Su. Antidepressant Resistance in Unipolar Depression Predict Subsequent Bipolarity: The 1996-2007 National Health Insurance Database in Taiwan. British Journal of Psychiatry. 2012 Jan; 200: 45-51 (SCI, IF=7.999)

2.      Cheng-Ta Li*, Mu-Hong Chen, Chi-Hung Juan, Hsiang-Hsuan Huang, Li-Fen Chen, Jen-Chuen Hsieh, Pei-Chi Tu, Ya-Mei Bai, Shin-Jen Tsai, Ying-Chiao Lee, and Tung-Ping Su*. Efficacy of Prefrontal Theta-Burst Stimulation in Refractory Depression: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Study. Brain, March, 2014 (SCI, IF=10.226)

3.      Cheng-Ta Li, Jen-Chuen Hsieh, Hsiang-Hsuan Huang, Mu-Hong Chen, Chi-Hung Juan, Pei-Chi Tu, Ya-Mei Bai, Ying-Chiao Lee, Shyh-Jen Wang, Chih-Ming Cheng, and Tung-Ping Su*. Cerebral Cortex, Aug, 2016 (SCI, IF = 8.325)

4.      Cheng-Ta Li*, Mu-Hong Chen, Chi-Hung Juan, Ren-Shyan Liu, Wei-Chen Lin, Ya-Mei Bai, Tung-Ping Su. Effects of prefrontal theta-burst stimulation on brain function in treatment-resistant depression: A randomized sham-controlled neuroimaging study. Brain Stimulation, 2018 April. (SCI, IF=6.192)

5.      Cheng-Ta Li*, Mu-Hong Chen, Wei-Chen Lin, Chen-Jee Hong, Bang-Hung Yang, Ren-Shyan Liu, Pei-Chi Tu, and Tung-Ping Su. The Effects of Low-Dose Ketamine on the Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala in Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Controlled Study. Hum Brain Mapp 2016 January. (SCI, 2013 IF=6.924)

6.      Cheng-Ta Li*, Chih-Ming Cheng, Mu-Hong Chen, Chi-Hung Juan, Pei-Chi Tu, Ya-Mei Bai, Jia-Shyun Jeng, Wei-Chen Lin, Shih-Jen Tsai, Tung-Ping Su. Antidepressant Efficacy of Prolonged Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation Monotherapy for Recurrent Depression and Comparison of Methods for Coil Positioning: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Sham-controlled Study. Biological Psychiatry, July. 2019 (SCI, IF=11.981)