Dr. Da Meng graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai, China with a Bachelor of Medicine in Basic Medical Sciences. She traveled to University of California, Los Angeles as part of the Cross-Disciplinary Scholars in Science and Technology Program, where she participated in the development of novel positron emission tomography imaging probes for the immune system.

Dr. Meng went on to earn her PhD in Neurobiology from University of California, San Diego, followed by her MD from Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Nicholas Spitzer focused on using genetic and viral tools to study the role of neuronal activity in neurotransmitter switching, a novel form of neuroplasticity. She was a recipient of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Research Fellowship and Ray Thomas Edwards Foundation Award, among other honors.

Her clinical research as a medical student included the development of novel exosome-based biomarkers to monitor disease recurrence and progression in uveal melanoma patients. She also led a multi-center retrospective cohort study on the natural history of CRB1 inherited retinal dystrophy to propose outcome measures for clinical trials of CRB1 gene therapy. She received the Behrens Memorial Prize in Ophthalmology and the Friedman Award for Student Research for her work.

Her work has been published in journals such as Nature, Neuron, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Molecular Therapy. She has presented at Society for Neuroscience Annual Meetings, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Meeting, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meeting.