about

Current position:

2022- Director, Psychiatry Residency Research Training Track / Program, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles

2018-    Chief, Psychosis Section, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA

2016-    Director, Thoughts and Perceptions Clinic, West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

2016-    Assistant Clinical Professor, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles

2014-    Consulting Psychiatrist, Santa Monica Hospital UCLA, Santa Monica, CA

education:

2016     Graduated from the Veterans Affairs Advanced Fellowship in Psychosis and Major Mental Illness for Physicians and Psychologists at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA

2014     Graduated from Psychiatry Residency at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA 

2013     Chief Resident, Psychiatry Residency at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA

2010     Received degree of MD from Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

2009    Received degree of PhD from Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, New Haven, CT.  Research focused on a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

2000     Received Bachelors of Art, Yale College, New Haven, CT.  Double-major in Biology and Music.  Focus on conducting in the music major; focus on neuroscience in the biology major.  Distinction in the music major.

past Work Experience:

2018- 2019   Associate Program Director, Psychiatry Residency Training Program, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles 

2017-2018    Acting Deputy Chief, Psychosis Section, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA

2014-2016    Consulting Psychiatrist, Providence St. John's Medical Center, Santa Monica, CA

2013-2016    Staff Psychiatrist, Transitions Behavioral Health Transitional Age Youth Outpatient Program, Van Nuys, CA

2013-2015    Staff Psychiatrist, Kaweah Delta Mental Health Inpatient Hospital, Visalia, CA

Professional memberships:

Member in good standing of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training

GRANTS, Honors and Awards:

2021 Awarded the Norman Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology Seed Grant initiative on the Impact of Discrimination on the Human Immune System: two-year grant to study the relationship between experiences of discrimination, and brain inflammation.

2020     Awarded the Faculty Teaching Award for Resident Teaching by the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences

2019 Awarded a Veterans Affairs CDA-2 Career Development Grant: Neuroinflammation and Oxidative Stress in Veterans with Schizophrenia.  Five-year award with 75% supported research time. 

2019     Nominated for the UCLA Exceptional Physician Award, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

2015     Awarded the Friends of the Semel Institute Scholar Fellowship to pursue research on neuroinflammation in schizophrenia

2014     Awarded a Pala Pilot Grant from the Veterans Administration (VA) Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers (MIRECC) to use magnetic resonance spectroscopy to examine brain metabolites in schizophrenia         

2013     Co-Chief Resident, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Psychiatry Residency Program

2012     Awarded the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry two-year Fellowship.  One of 12 residents from throughout the country chosen for leadership and creativity potential in psychiatry

2012     Awarded the National Institutes of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award Program; awarded to 10-12 distinguished PGY-2 psychiatry residents per year for excellence in research, leadership and clinical work

2012     Awarded the American Psychiatric Association Leadership Fellowship, which entails funding for travel to four different conferences to include leadership training and workshops, advocacy, and learning about the governing body of the APA

2012     Nominated for the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Excellence in Teaching Award.

2004    Admitted to candidacy for the PhD, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University School of Medicine, with the honor of Distinguished during qualifying exam.

lectures and teaching experience:

2020                American Psychiatric Association, Severe Mental Illness Adviser Webinar, “Strategies for Success: Using Long-Acting Injectable Medications.”  National live webinar.  February 13, 2020.

2019                American Psychiatric Association, Severe Mental Illness Adviser Webinar, “Strategies for Successful Use of Clozapine: A Practical Guide.”  National live webinar.  August 8, 2019.

2018                Grand Rounds Presentation, “Practical Clinical Updates Clozapine Prescribing Practices: 
Turning the Mirror on Ourselves.”  UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, December 11, 2018, Los Angeles, CA.

2016-               Lecturer and Co-Director, Psychiatry Residency Program Didactics, Psychosis Core, PGY2 and 3, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior

2015-               Lecturer and Director, VA Psychosis Clinic Didactics Course, West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California

2015                Grand Rounds, “Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Schizophrenia”, West Los Angeles VA Medical Center Psychiatry Grand Rounds, April 9, 2015, Los Angeles, California

selected Publications:

Yang YS, Wynn JK, Cole S, Green MF.  Stress-Related Gene Regulation: Do Isolated and Connected Individuals Differ? Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Jun 17:120:372-378. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.06.013.

Cohn, A., Yang, YS.  The effects of individualism versus collectivism on clozapine policy stringency.  Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2024 Jun 2. doi: 10.1111/acps.13714.

Yang YS, J. Smucny, H. Zhang, R. Maddock.  Meta-analytic evidence of elevated choline, reduced N-acetylaspartate, and normal creatine in schizophrenia and their moderation by measurement quality, echo time, and medication status.  NeuroImage: Clinical.  2023 Jun 27;39:103461 PMID: 37406595

Yang YS, Maddock RJ, Lee J, Zhang H, Hellemann G, Sugar C, Marder SR, Green MF.  N-Acetylcysteine effects on glutathione and glutamate in schizophrenia: A preliminary MRS study.  Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.  2022 Sep; 325:111515. Epub 2022 Jun 23. PMID: 35839558 

Barceló NE, Shadravan S, Wells CR, Goodsmith N, Tarrant B,  Shaddox T, Yang Y,  Bath E, DeBonis K.  Reimagining Merit and Representation: Promoting Equity and Reducing Bias in GME Through Holistic Review.  Acad Psychiatry. 2021 Feb;45(1):34-42. doi: 10.1007/s40596-020-01327-5.

Kantrowitz JT, Grinband J, Goff DC, Lahti AC, Marder SR, Kegeles LS, Girgis RR, Sobeih T, Wall MM, Choo TH, Green MF, Yang YS, Lee J, Horga G, Krystal JH, Potter WZ, Javitt DC, Lieberman JA.  Proof of mechanism and target engagement of glutamatergic drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia: RCTs of pomaglumetad and TS-134 on ketamine-induced psychotic symptoms and pharmacoBOLD in healthy volunteers.  Neuropsychopharmacology.  2020 Oct;45(11):1842-1850

Yang YS, Maddock RJ, Lee J, Zhang H, Hellemann G, Narr KL, Marder SR, Green MF.  Brain glutathione levels and age at onset of illness in chronic schizophrenia.  Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2019 Jul 31:1-16.

Yang YS, Davis MC, Wynn JK, Hellemann G, Green MF, Marder, SR. N-acetylcysteine improves EEG measures of auditory deviance detection and neural synchronization in schizophrenia: A randomized, controlled pilot study.  Schizophr Res. 2019 Jun; 208:479-480.

Yang YS, Marder, SR. “Pharmacological management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia: fundamentals of clozapine.”  Treatment Response and Resistance in Schizophrenia. Ed. Howes O.  Oxford University Press, 2018. 

Yang YS, Marder, SR.  “Clozapine.”  Textbook of Psychopharmacology, 5th Ed.  Schatzberg AF and Nemeroff CB.  American Psychiatric Publishing, 2017.

Yang YS, Marder SR, Green MF.  Repurposing Drugs for Cognition in Schizophrenia.  Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2017 Feb;101(2):191-193. 

Yang YS, Harel NY, Strittmatter SM. Reticulon-4A (Nogo-A) redistributes protein disulfide isomerase to protect mice from SOD1-dependent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  Journal of Neuroscience. 2009 Nov 4;29(44):13850-9.

Yang YS, Strittmatter SM.  The reticulons: a family of proteins with diverse functions.  Genome Biol. 2007; 8(12):234.

Harel NY, Yang YS, Strittmatter SM.  "The dawn of molecular and cellular therapies for traumatic spinal cord injury."  Molecular Neurology. Ed. Waxman SG., Elsevier, 2007.

Yang YS, Hughes TE. Cre stoplight: a red/green fluorescent reporter of Cre recombinase expression in living cells. Biotechniques. 2001 Nov; 31(5):1036, 1038, 1040-1.