Dr. Liu is a tenured associate professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Pharmacy, a fellow at UMKC Healthcare Institute for Innovations in Quality, and a graduate and doctoral faculty member at UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Management. He has a B.S. in pharmacy from West China University of Medical Sciences, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical socioeconomics from University of Iowa. He has taught a multitude of topics in the areas of U.S. health care system, health care marketing, pharmacy practice management, health economics, and health care policy. He has extensive research experience in implementing and evaluating health care services, examining the behaviors of patients or health care professionals, and identifying factors impacting health care utilization. His research has been funded by government agencies, professional organizations, and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Dr. Liu is the implementation co-lead for the Kansas City Quality & Value Innovation Consortium Opioid Management Project. He has served as an associate faculty member in the Postgraduate Year 2 (PGY2) Western Missouri Psychiatric Residency Program at the Center for Behavioral Medicine and as a preceptor in the Walgreens Local Specialty Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY1) Community Residency Program at University Health. He also served as a preceptor in the PGY1 Community Pharmacy Residency Program at UMKC from 2010 to 2018. Dr. Liu is a review editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology, an editorial board member for Advances in Therapy, an advisory board member for Dermatology and Therapy, and a guest editor for the special issue of Pharmacy on "Advancing the Knowledge and Application of Health Behavior Theories." In addition, he was on the editorial boards of Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (2014-17, 2020-23) and Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy (2015-17). Dr. Liu has served as a reviewer for various journals and has been recognized as an outstanding reviewer by Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.
At the UMKC School of Pharmacy, Dr. Liu has served on the Promotion and Tenure Committee, Research Advisory Council, Graduate Programs Committee, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Scholarship and Awards Committee, Library Committee, and search committees for faculty positions. At UMKC, he served on the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Executive Committee, and is the faculty advisor for the student chapter of the Industry Pharmacist Organization (IPhO). At the national level, he has served on the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science (APhA-APRS) Policy Standing Committee, and American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry Practitioner Education Advisory Committee. In addition, he was a delegate of APhA-APRS (2019-20, 2021-22, 2022-23). Dr. Liu is also the Secretary of Knowledge Management for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Public Health Special Interest Group (SIG), and serves on the Executive Committee and the Caring for the Underserved Committee of AACP Public Health SIG. He served on the Global Outreach Committee of AACP Global Pharmacy Education SIG as well.