Professor Xinxiang Li is a distinguished colorectal surgeon and a leading expert in minimally invasive and comprehensive treatments for colorectal cancer. He specializes in ultra-low rectal cancer sphincter-preserving surgery, laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer, and multidisciplinary treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.
With extensive clinical experience in colorectal tumor management, Professor Li has been at the forefront of surgical innovation. He trained at the Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Minimally Invasive Surgery Center, where he conducted clinical research and received the 2009 International Young Investigator Award from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES). Upon returning to China, he pioneered and successfully performed over 10,000 laparoscopic colorectal surgeries at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. His expertise in laparoscopic surgery earned him First Prize in the 2013 Chinese Surgical Young Scholars Award.
As the Chair of the Laparoscopic Surgery Committee of the Shanghai Anti-Cancer Association, Professor Li has extensive experience in laparoscopic surgery for elderly colorectal cancer patients and ultra-low sphincter-preserving procedures. He has set benchmarks in minimally invasive surgery, achieving globally recognized surgical quality standards. His groundbreaking contributions include performing the world’s first laparoscopic transanal pull-through anastomosis without angulation and pioneering the “vascular-centered approach” for laparoscopic radical rectal cancer surgery.
Professor Li is committed to the standardization and innovation of rectal cancer surgical management. He has led the establishment of the Rectal Cancer Prevention and Treatment Committee of the Chinese Society of Integrative Medicine and served as its inaugural chairman. He also founded the China Rectal Cancer Clinical Research Alliance and spearheaded multiple national prospective multi-center clinical research projects. He was the lead author of the “Chinese Expert Consensus on Left Colic Artery-Preserving Radical Rectal Cancer Surgery” and contributed to the drafting of 10 authoritative clinical guidelines, including the CSCO Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines.
His research achievements, particularly the “Optimization and Promotion of Full-Course Management of Rectal Cancer Surgery”, have been widely recognized, winning the 2018 Shanghai Medical Science and Technology Award (Second Prize) and the 2019 Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award (Third Prize). He was also nominated for the Bethune Good Doctor Award in its third edition.
Professor Li has been the principal investigator of multiple National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) projects, Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (STCSM) key research projects, and other national and provincial research grants. He has served as an NSFC and STCSM project review expert. His academic contributions include six books as chief editor or translator, 77 published research articles in leading journals, including five with an impact factor exceeding 10, and a total cumulative impact factor of 342. He holds two invention patents and two utility model patents.
He serves as an editorial board member for several prestigious journals, including Chinese Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Frontiers in Oncology (Gastrointestinal Cancers section), World Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Annals of Translational Medicine.
