Y. Tony Yang
George Washington University School of Nursing professor Y. Tony Yang has been named the inaugural recipient of the Endowed Professorship in Health Policy. The endowed professorship was established to recognize a distinguished scholar with a proven record of outstanding achievement in health policy research and education, as measured by scholarly activity and international professional reputation.
Dr. Yang is a tenured professor and executive director of GW Nursing’s Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement, with a secondary faculty appointment in the Milken Institute School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He is also affiliated with the GW Cancer Center and the District of Columbia Center for AIDS Research (DC CFAR).
“I am humbled and appreciative to have been selected to receive the very first endowed professorship at GW Nursing,” Dr. Yang said. “I would like to thank our Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement core team members and my grant and paper collaborators. Also, thank you to Dean Jeffries for offering recognition to a health policy researcher like me. I will continue my efforts to be productive and look forward to contributing to health policy research for many years to come.”
Dean Pamela R. Jeffries said that in addition to Dr. Yang being a valued faculty member, researcher and leader within the university, he is an internationally respected voice in public health.
“He has worked tirelessly to strengthen our research enterprise and increase our visibility in health policy, above and beyond what we could have hoped in just a few years,” she said. “I am overjoyed that the School of Nursing was able to fund its first endowed professorship and equally as thrilled to be able to recognize Tony for this prestigious honor.”
Dr. Yang’s main scholarly interest is in policy issues at the intersection of legal and health systems, especially in vaccination policy, pharmaceuticals and FDA-regulated products, medical malpractice and maternity care. He takes an empirical approach to most of his research, blending methods from the econometric and statistical sciences with traditional legal research methods. He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed articles, which have appeared in leading journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, Health Affairs and American Journal of Public Health.
The impact of Dr. Yang’s scholarship is observable in media outlets such as CNN, National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He has been awarded more than $2.5 million in federal grants as principal investigator and has been supported by various foundation funders as principal investigator, including The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Policy for Action, Interdisciplinary Research Leaders and Public Health Law Research). He also received the Early Career Award for Excellence from the American Public Health Association.
Dr. Yang was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an FDA Regulatory Science Fellow (jointly organized by the National Academy of Medicine), and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-National Center of Health Statistics Health Policy Fellow. A member of AcademyHealth Education Council, he holds graduate degrees in public health and health policy and management from Harvard University and a master in law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Proceeds from the endowment will provide sustained financial support for Dr. Yang and his research activities for several years to come.
