William H. Yong, M.D.

Director, Brain Tissue Translational Resource | BTTR

Chief, Neuropathology

Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Member, Brain Research Institute

JCCC Signal Transduction and Therapeutics Program Area

Biography

Dr. Yong obtained a bachelors degree in molecular biology at UC Berkeley and a masters degree in biology (cellular and molecular) at San Francisco State University. For the masters degree, he studied the AIDS retrovirus while in the laboratory of Professor Jay Levy at UCSF. He attended medical school at UCLA where he completed his Honors thesis research with Professor Harry Vinters and graduated as a Deans Scholar. He trained in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where he worked in the molecular neuro-oncology laboratory of Dr. David Louis. For his work there, Dr. Yong was awarded the American Association of Neuropathologists Lucien J. Rubinstein Award in Neuro-oncology. He completed his neuropathology fellowship at UCLA.

Subsequently, he was the Director of Neuropathology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for eight years before returning to the UCLA Medical Center. He is currently Chief of Neuropathology, Director of the UCLA Brain Tumor Translational Resource and Director of the UCLA Neuropathology Fellowship Program. He is a recipient of a Golden Apple Award for teaching and the Johnny Mercer Foundation Research Award for Brain Cancer among others. Dr. Yong is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and serves on editorial boards and grant review panels. He teaches UCLA medical and dental students as well as residents and fellows in pathology, neuropathology, neurosurgery, and neurology. He is an adviser and mentor for junior faculty. As an attending neuropathologist at the UCLA Medical Center, his clinical expertise includes brain and pituitary tumors as well as neuromuscular pathology. He provide international telepathology consultations for complex brain cases. He works closely with UCLA Neurosurgery and Neuro-oncology physicians in determining diagnoses and molecular testing of brain tumor samples. 

Current main research interests include biobanking methods and end-stage immunopathology and neuropathology in brain cancer patients.  He consults for the National Neurologic AIDS Brain Bank. His team has also conducted or collaboarated on studies in bioinformatics, nanotechnology, non-invasive imaging, neuroradiology, and targeted therapies. Collaborations have spanned AIDS, stroke, dementia, and epilepsy.