刘医生先后就读于苏州医学院（苏州大学）和南京医学院（南京医科大学），接受系统的医学教育。1987年毕业后，他从事心胸外科临床工作，并于1989年晋升为副教授。随后一年，刘医生赴美国加州洛马琳达大学医学中心（Loma Linda University Medical Center）心脏外科担任访问学者/访问外科医生，专注于心脏移植与心脏外科相关的科研与临床工作。1990年至1995年期间，刘医生获得美国心脏协会（AHA）及美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）资助，开展心肌缺血/再灌注（I/R）损伤方面的研究。

之后，刘医生加入加州大学戴维斯分校健康系统（UCD Health）麻醉与疼痛医学系，目前为该系正教授。他通过美国麻醉科委员会（ABA）认证，专业方向为心胸与血管麻醉；同时获得美国国家医学考试委员会（NBE）高级围术期经食道超声心动图（TEE）认证。刘医生长期研究心肌缺血/再灌注损伤，重点关注麻醉预处理在炎症与细胞凋亡中的作用、衰老对心肌缺血/再灌注保护效应的影响，以及麻醉预处理相关的心肌基因表达变化。目前，他的研究聚焦于临床结局研究、循证医学与转化医学。刘医生已发表200余篇同行评审论文。

2011年，刘医生被任命为UCD Health国际合作事务主任，负责协调国际学术交流与国际患者服务。

Dr. Liu received his medical education from Suzhou Medical College (Soochow University) and Nanjing Medical College (Nanjing Medical University). Following his graduation in 1987, he went to work as a cardiothoracic surgeon and was promoted to associate professor in 1989.  Dr. Liu spent the following year as a visiting surgeon in cardiac surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California where he focused on both research and patient care involving heart transplants and cardiac surgery. From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Liu was awarded fundings from the AHA and NIH to conduct research on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. He later joined the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at UCD Health where he is currently a full professor.  He is board certified by the ABA and specializes in cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia. He is also NBE certified in advanced perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. His research interests continue to be in myocardial I/R injury; specifically, the roles of anesthetic preconditioning on inflammation and apoptosis, the affect of aging on the myocardial protection against I/R injury, and myocardial gene expressions in anesthetic preconditioning. Dr. Liu’s current research focuses on clinical outcome studies, evidence-based medicine, and translational medicine. Dr. Liu has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Liu was appointed as the Director of International Partnerships at UCD Health in 2011. He coordinates international academic exchanges and international patient services.