DBS Welcomes Dr. Li and Dr. Best

The Division is pleased to welcome two new outstanding colleagues to the DBS family. Norman Best, Ph.D., and Rose Li, M.D., Ph.D., were appointed adjunct assistant professors. Adjunct faculty are those with a primary appointment elsewhere, but with strong overlap with our departmental goals in research, teaching, and inclusion such that we seek a more formal relationship.

Dr. Best is a research geneticist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service. His research focuses on hormones that control plant architecture. He is specifically looking at how brassinosteroids and gibberlins influence plant height, leaf canopy, and inflorescence development in maize.

Dr. Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health at MU. She is interested in the  association  of diets  and nutrition with  human  disease development and prevention. Her  current  research focuses  on  the interaction of epigenetic mechanisms, gut microbiome and bioactive nutritive in breast cancer, obesity, and metabolic diseases.