Associate Dean for Research 

Professor of Developmental Biology 

Director of Biological Sciences in Dental Medicine (BSDM) PhD Program

Harvard School of Dental Medicine

Dr. Yingzi Yang has made major contributions to understanding how cells communicate with each other to ensure proper control of embryonic development and physiological functions of the skeleton and liver. Her research has successfully bridged discoveries of fundamental mechanisms with characterization and treatment of diseases. 

Dr. Yang completed her B.S. degree from the Fudan University in Shanghai, China. She received her research training in the U.S. and studied Wnt and Hedgehog signaling in early limb patterning under the guidance of Dr. Lee Niswander at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, where she was awarded her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology by the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. 

After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in mammalian developmental biology and genetics in the laboratory of Dr. Andy McMahon at Harvard University, she joined the Genetic Disease Research Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) as a tenure–track investigator in 2000 and adventured into the field of skeletal biology. She received tenure at NHGRI in 2006 and was head of the Developmental Genetics Section and a senior investigator of NHGRI. She was recruited by HSDM as Professor of Developmental Biology in 2014. 

Dr. Yang has received many honors and awards during her scientific career. She is the recipient of Vincent du Vigneaud Award of Excellence from the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Postdoctoral fellowship award from the Cancer Research Fund of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Foundation, NIH Award of Merit, SCBA Young investigator award and NIH APAO Outstanding Achievements and Merit Scholarship Award. 

Dr. Yang has published extensively in professional journals. She serves or has served on the editorial boards of several major journals including Cell Research, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology. Dr. Yang enjoys and is committed to training students at all levels and introducing them to the excitement and significance of biomedical research. Dr. Yang also serves on many professional research and education committees. Fields of Interest Work in Dr. Yang’s laboratory is centered around the regulation of formation and functions of the skeleton and liver by biochemical and biomechanical cues. She is particularly interested in identifying fundamentally important cellular and molecular mechanisms whereby important signaling pathways control key biological functions in complex systems. Dr. Yang’s laboratory is exploring human biology by exploiting human genetic diseases.