With generous support from C.C. Li’s two children, Carol S. Li and Steven M. Li, and his wife, Clara, established the C.C. and Clara Li Endowed Scholarship in summer 2015.
Devoted to advancing the recruitment of top master's and doctoral applicants to the Department of Human Genetics, the endowment can be used to support tuition, travel, or other educational expenses for students studying at any level in the department. C. C. and Clara Li Scholar Awards are offered to an incoming student from each of the department’s programs. Awards may also be usedto help promising current students attend a scientific meeting to present their research.
The award honors the legacy of C.C. Li, who served as chair of the Department of Biostatistics and was a biostatistics and human genetics faculty memberat Pitt Public Health for more than 45 years. A recipient of the American Society of Human Genetics Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education, Li authored several textbooks—including First Course in Population Genetics—that are considered to be classics in the field and have been translated into several languages.
The Li family’s generous support of Pitt Public Health dates back many years and also includes a $1 million planned gift commitment to create a research fund for the Department of Human Genetics. The inaugural C.C. and Clara Li scholars were awarded in 2017, and formally announced at the 2018 C.C. Li Memorial Lecture.