Vincent Wen-Shan Yang, Ph.D., M.D.
Professor, Hem/Med-Oncology
Professor, MED:Medicine

Personally Authored Bio:

Vincent W. Yang, M.D., Ph.D., joined Emory University School of Medicine in July 2001, as R. Bruce Logue Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Digestive Diseases in the Department of Medicine. He also holds a joint appointment as Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology in the Winship Cancer Institute and was Director of the Emory University Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program. As division director, Dr. Yang oversees both clinical and academic activities in the areas of digestive diseases including the gastrointestinal tract, liver and pancreas in affiliated hospitals and clinics in the Emory Healthcare System. He is also in charge of a growing basic research program in digestive diseases that include colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, viral hepatitis, nutrition and basic mechanism of intestinal transport and motility. The program was significantly strengthened by a National Institutes of Health-funded Emory Epithelial Pathobiology Research Development Center of which Dr. Yang is the Principal Investigator and Director.

Dr. Yang's research focus is on understanding the mechanisms that control the proliferation and differentiation of the intestinal epithelial cells. His laboratory is also investigating the molecular genetics of colorectal cancer. Dr. Yang's research effort has led to the seminal discovery of a number of novel genes called Krüppel-like factors that exert important functions in regulating cell growth and differentiation. In addition, Dr. Yang actively participates in a number of clinical research projects that address chemoprevention of colorectal cancer. For example, he was co-author in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine that studied the effect of a drug called sulindac in preventing formation of adenomas (polyps) in a hereditary syndrome called familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Also, he is co-investigator of a National Cancer Institute-funded multi-center clinical trial investigating the effect of vitamin D and calcium in preventing colorectal cancer.

Prior to joining Emory, Dr. Yang was Associate Professor of Medicine and Oncology with joint appointment in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. He was also Director of Admissions for the Graduate Program in Cellular & Molecular Medicine and Director of the Hopkins DK Center for the Analysis of Gene Expression.

Dr. Yang completed undergraduate studies at the National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. He was awarded a Ph. D. degree from the Department of Biochemical Sciences of Princeton University in 1980 and received his M. D. degree form the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School (now Robert Wood Johnson Medical School). Between 1984 and 1989, he received residency training in Internal Medicine and fellowship training in Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Yang is the recipient of numerous awards and grants and is one of the first recipients of the Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Clinician Scientist Award, awarded in 2001. Previously, he received a Sandoz Clinician Scientist Award from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the American Gastroenterology Association/Sandoz Research Scholar Award and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Distinguished Alumni Award. He currently serves as a review member for study sections in the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs.