Chang Li Yen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. She obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from Universiti Malaya and has over two decades of experience in virology and infectious disease research. Her work focuses on the pathogenesis, molecular epidemiology, host immune responses, and vaccine development for emerging and re-emerging pathogens, particularly Nipah virus. Her recent studies have provided important insights into long-term humoral and cellular immunity among Malaysian Nipah virus survivors and the molecular diversity of viruses relevant to vaccine development and outbreak preparedness. She has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications in international journals.

Li Yen was a member of the Universiti Malaya Nipah Encephalitis Investigation Team, which received the inaugural Merdeka Award in 2008 under the Health, Science and Technology category. She is the only Malaysian investigator to have received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), with one ongoing project focused on mapping T-cell epitopes that drive long-term cellular immune responses in survivors of the 1998–1999 Malaysian Nipah virus outbreak. In addition to her research activities, she teaches microbiology, biosafety, and biosecurity to undergraduate and postgraduate students and serves as a biosafety and biosecurity trainer at institutional, national, and regional levels, contributing to capacity building and preparedness for emerging infectious diseases.