Dr. Weng-Lang Yang is Research Professor of Radiation Oncology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. He received his BS from Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan, PhD from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Postdoctoral training at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Before joining Einstein, he is Professor of Surgery at Zucker School of at Hofstra/Northwell and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York.
His early research interests focused on colorectal cancer progression and metastasis. He also studied cellular responses to surgical cryo- and radiofrequency ablations in solid tumors. He then shifted research focus to study different cell death mechanisms (apoptosis, necroptosis, and pyroptosis), the role of immune cells (macrophages, neutrophils, and iNKT cells), and energy metabolism pathways attributed to the organ injury under ischemia-reperfusion, hemorrhagic shock, and sepsis. His current research focused on development of radiation medical countermeasures to treat acute radiation syndrome (ARS), delayed effects of acute radiation exposure (DEARE), and multiple-organ injury after radiation. He studies molecular mechanisms of radiation injury on inflammation, immune dysfunction, senescence, and fibrosis. He also studies the application of cell therapy to treat radiation injury and inherited genetic liver diseases.
He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in cancer, critical care, and radiation research areas. He has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator in more than 15 NIH academic and industrial grants. Throughout his career, he has mentored more than 30 trainees, including postdoctoral research fellows, surgical residents, PhD candidates, and medical, college and high school students. Many of them had presented their works and received awards from local and national scientific societies.