In 2001, she was awarded a competitive WHO fellowship to conduct a one-year research project in osteoporosis within the Division of Clinical Biochemistry/Department of Endocrinology, IMVS/Royal Adelaide Hospital. After being awarded an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS), she commenced her PhD at UNSW Australia in 2002, investigating the responses of bone cells to the activation of the Wnt signaling pathway and vitamin D.

She moved to the Neuroscience Division at the Garvan Institute, starting her postdoc training at the Eating Disorder Research Lab. In February 2012, she received the Australian Medical Council (AMC) Certificate after successfully re-qualifying for her Australian medical license, allowing her to practice medicine in Australia. She was promoted to Group Leader of the Neuroendocrinology Group in 2014, leading her independent research.

As a clinician scientist with medical qualification recognised in both Australia and China, she has a unique set of strengths in research, in translation and in collaboration. Since 2007, she has authored 41 peer-reviewed publications in top-ranked journals including Cell Metabolism, Nature Communications, Diabetes, eLife, Molecular Metabolism, Endocrinology, Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Obesity. She has been invited to speak or present at many international, national and local conferences. Her standing in energy/glucose metabolism and NPY research has allowed the establishment of collaborations within or outside her research field. Her research has been funded by the National Health Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grants and the Diabetes Australia (DART) grants.

She has also demonstrated a strong commitment to research supervision and mentoring. Since 2009, she has supervised/mentored more than 20 research individuals including PhD students, Honours, research undergraduates, junior postdocs, overseas research interns and junior research staff. She is currently recruiting PhD students and Honours students to conduct fully-funded research projects. Visiting scholars and undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) students are also welcome.