Yvonne Yang, MD, PhD

Yvonne Yang, M.D., Ph.D., joined the Green Lab in 2014 with the support of the VA's Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment. She earned her Bachelor's degree as a double major in Music and Molecular Biology from Yale University, before receiving her MD and PhD degrees from Yale School of Medicine. During her PhD, she investigated the pathophysiology of amotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) in a mouse model for ALS, using in vivo neuronal tracing, protein biochemistry, genetic manipulation, stem cell transplant, and behavior and survival studies. She completed her psychiatry residency at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior in 2014, serving as chief resident in her fourth year, and completed the MIRECC Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment at the West Los Angeles VA in June 2016.  She joined the faculty at UCLA and the VA, dividing her time between directing the Psychosis Clinic at the VA, teaching residents and medical students, and continuing her research.  Largely due to her clinical experiences, Yvonne has shifted her research goals to addressing questions about schizophrenia and its underlying neurochemical deficits, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy.  She is currently principal investigator of a study utilizing N-acetylcysteine to reduce neuroinflammation in patients with schizophrenia.  Yvonne has co-authored manuscripts published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Genome Biology, Biotechniques, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and has co-authored two book chapters. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, the Southern California Psychiatric Society, the American Medical Association and is a past member of the Society for Neuroscience.