Chun Jiang, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Cell Biology and Physiology at Georgia State University, passed away peacefully in his sleep on September 6, 2026, after a long illness.

The son of Fuhua Jiang and Rongzhi Li, Dr. Jiang was born on July 15, 1954, in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, China. He is survived by his beloved wife, Ping; his son, Tian (Kevin); his daughter-in-law, Ann Hickox; and his granddaughter, Charlotte. He is also survived by his mother, his sister, Feng Jiang, and his brother, Hao Jiang, who reside in China.

A Life Devoted to Science, Teaching, and Discovery

Dr. Jiang earned his medical degree from Harbin Medical University in 1982 and his Ph. D in neuroscience from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai in 1987. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, from 1988 to 1990. In 1990, he joined the Yale University School of Medicine for further training and research in physiology, and in 1991 he was appointed Research Associate Scientist in the Section of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. In 1996, he joined the faculty of the Department of Biology at Georgia State University in Atlanta as Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology. He was promoted to full professor with tenure in 2002 and served in that role until his unexpected medical retirement in 2022.

Dr. Jiang was a devoted educator and research scientist. During his years at Georgia State University, his laboratory received continuous, uninterrupted U.S. National Institutes of Health funding for over two decades, a testament to the consistency and quality of his research.

He trained 17 PhD students and co-trained 4 others, along with numerous master's and undergraduate students. He also served as a mentor to several postdoctoral fellows and visiting faculty. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in cell biology and physiology, he provided leadership to several departmental undergraduate and graduate programs as a director or associate director.

With training in both medicine and cell physiology, Dr. Jiang built a broad and influential research program dedicated to understanding the molecular basis of disease. His work spanned cellular and molecular physiology, functional genomics, cellular chemosensitivity, ion channel electrophysiology, cardiovascular biology, the neural control of the respiratory system, septic shock, glucose sensing and the control of insulin secretion, and brain hypoxia and neuronal survival.

He was especially well known for his contributions to understanding the neuronal networks that generate and control respiratory rhythm, changes in ionic homeostasis during brain hypoxia, the modulation of ion channels—particularly potassium ion channels—during oxygen deprivation, and intrinsic mechanisms that protect nerve cells from injury.

Dr. Jiang's approach to science was rigorous, collaborative, and comprehensive. He expected his students to conduct experiments independently and to produce reproducible, reliable data. Over the course of his career, he published more than 150 peer-reviewed and invited scientific articles. His expertise and productivity were recognized through research support from the Parker B. Francis Fellowship, the American Lung Association, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and the National Institutes of Health.

His standing in the scientific community was reflected in his service on numerous funding panels and study sections, including those of the Wellcome Trust, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program, the American Heart Association, and the National Institutes of Health, including NIDDK/DEA and Respiratory Integrative Biology. He was a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the American Physiological Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Beyond his own laboratory, Dr. Jiang maintained a lasting collaboration with Professor Daling Zhu of Harbin Medical University, where he was appointed an Honorary Professor and co-trained a PhD student. Although his own expertise lay in cells and ion channels, he generously helped his colleague P. C. Tai build entirely from the ground up a bacterial patch-clamp system for recording single channels in oocytes, cells, and liposomes. This work opened an entirely new avenue for studying SecA function and antibiotic inhibition. His generous dedication and the countless hours he devoted to the project were instrumental and irreplaceable, contributing to the co-training of 2 PhD students and resulting in 10 research publications.

Early Life, Education, and Legacy

Before beginning his medical and graduate studies, Dr. Jiang worked as an electrician in China, and he carried those hands-on skills with him throughout his life. He was gifted not only at solving technical problems in the laboratory but also at tackling projects and repairs around the house, including fully renovating a basement entirely on his own. He traveled often with Ping 'to catch lost times' after his unexpected medical retirement. Even as he moved between demanding treatments in Boston and Atlanta, he never lost his optimism or his bright outlook. He often said 'I earn another year' during 6 years of treatments. He was a loving father and grandfather who adored his granddaughter, Charlotte, proudly sharing pictures and videos of her at every opportunity.

Above all, Dr. Jiang was a man of principle and unwavering integrity. He was extremely devoted to his students, postdocs, and colleagues, and he always kept his trainees' best interests at heart, making certain that each one left his laboratory equipped with the skills and publications they would need to succeed. Some of his Ph. D students now have prominent scientific careers and academic positions in US and China. He was that rare academic who measured his success not by his own advancement but by the flourishing of everyone in his charge. This was a responsibility he took more seriously than anything else. He will be deeply missed.

Memorial Symposium and Remembrances

A Memorial Symposium and Celebration of Life in honor of Dr. Jiang's achievements will be held on November 7, 2026, at Biology Department, Georgia State University. A link will be shared when available.

An Endowed Chun Jiang Memorial Graduate Fund will be established in Biology Department at GSU Foundation (donation is tax deductible).

Please contact Kevin Jiang (kevin.tian.jiang@gmail.com) or Phang C Tai (biopct@gsu.edu) for more information.

To share memories and see additional pictures, visit:

https://everloved.com/life-of/chun-jiang/

Prepared by Phan C Tai and Kevin Jiang