A Deep Tribute to Professor Jianming Li
Dear CNAHA members and friends:
We are all extremely saddened that our beloved friend and former CNAHA president, Dr. Jianming Li, passed away on June 12th, 2020 from illness. Our deepest sympathies to his wife, who has lost a loving husband, and his two daughters who have lost an amazing father. CNAHA has lost a great leader and mentor and we have all lost a dear friend.
Dr. Li is an accomplished and internationally respected Cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist. He devoted his life to patient care, education, and public awareness of cardiovascular diseases. With his kind and warm heart, clear vision, firm commitment, strong leadership skills and tireless effort, he made a tremendous impact on so many people. For CNAHA members, Dr. Li was the backbone of our organization. As the third president of CNAHA, his leadership helped navigate our organization through unique challenges, steering us to the strong position that we are in now. He made constant efforts to promote the development of CNAHA, and oversaw collaborations between CNAHA and many large professional societies (such as the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, and American Society of Echocardiography).
Dr. Li was instrumental in CNAHA’s scientific communications with various Chinese cardiovascular societies. His substantial contributions in educating Chinese physicians and promoting cardiovascular health for Chinese people are and will continue to be recognized and appreciated, as evidenced by the condolences that have been pouring in over the past two days.
Dr. Li is a dear friend, and has been a role model for me personally, as well as for many of our members. While our time with him may seem brief, his impact on us will be forever lasting. He will always live on in our memory!
Zijian Xu, MD, PhD, FACC
Co-President
Chinese American Heart Association
I am deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Jianming Li. He is a role model, a pioneer, and one of the key founding members of our CNAHA! He has an affectionate and integrated personality that always positively influences and helps people around him.
CNAHA wouldn’t have reached today’s scope and level without Dr. Li’s passionate dedications for years. In early April this year, I couldn’t have got connected with Medtronic funds manager in Minnesota without Dr. Li’s tremendous help. Despite of his extremely busy work schedule, Dr. Li, on behalf of the CNAHA, had made calls and sent emails to Medtronic in person, and helped me out locating the right contact by all means, so that the CNAHA was able to receive in a timely manner the most significant funds in our history for the Young Investigator Award (YIA, pre-approved for Dr. Jie Cheng’s application). Dr. Li’s vision, devotions and impacts to our CNAHA, as well as the community of all professionals in the cardiovascular field of both the USA and China, will be forever remembered.
My heart goes to him and his family! RIP!
Li Chen Co-President Chinese American Heart Association
