Postdoctoral fellows and professor of medicine

Main research interests：Osteoporosis, osteopenia and bone biology.

Prof. Yao was the deputy director and professor of Musculoskeletal Health Research Center of UC Davis School of Medicine. As the project leader, she has undertaken scientific research projects such as National Institutes of Health (NIH), California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), American Natural Science Foundation project "Study on Bone-Targeted Guided Mesenchymal Stem Cell Migration for Osteogenesis", "Research Project of Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Osteoporosis, Fracture Healing and Rheumatoid Arthropathy" and "Interference with Progesterone Receptor for Osteoporosis", and obtained more than 20 million US dollars of large-scale special research funds from NIH and CIRM.
         

Prof. Yao won substantial awards, including "UCD avis Award for Outstanding Scientific Research in 2012" and "UC Davis Medical College Award for Outstanding Scientific Research Team in 2013", "Benefit Human Health Award" and "Best Tutor Award" in 2016. She has published more than 100 SCI papers in internationally renowned journals such as Nature Medicine, Stem Cells and Nature Communications; She is currently the chairman of the Bone and Joint Branch of the Orthopedic research society.

Prof. Yao has also participated in the R&D of new drugs for many renowned companies such as Eli Lilly, Merck, Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK), P&G and Amgen, and  has extensive experience in the industrialization of innovative drugs.

 As the co-founder and CSO  of Rabpharma, Prof. Yao is now leading the phase II clinical trial of Innovative Drug Program Rab001 for the treatment of osteonecrosis in China.