Dr. Yang is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Medical Science (CAMS), and a professor of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). He is also a member of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), The African Academy of Sciences (AAS), and European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), an international/foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, Germany, India, Ukraine, and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
Dr. Yang received his Ph.D. from University of Copenhagen, Denmark (1985-1988), and post-doctoral training in France (1988-1990) and the USA (1990-1994). He, as Chairman and co-founder of BGI-China which is regarded as one of the most important contributors to the genome research in the world, making a significant contribution to the International Human Genome Project (HGP, 1999-2003), the International HapMap Project (HapMap, 2002-2006), the International 1000 Genomes Project (G1K, 2008-2012), the International Cancer Genome Project (ICGP, 2008-present), the international collaboration on Yeast Genome Redesign and Synthesis (Sc2.0, 2011-2017), as well as sequencing and analyzing genomes of many other animals, plants, and microorganisms, with >600 publications in the internationally prestigious peer-reviewed journals, including >120 in Cell, Science, Nature and its series.
Dr. Yang has been actively involved in international activities. He is the founder and Chair of the annual meetings of the International Conference on Genomics (ICG1-17) since 2006. He served as a member of the UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (IBC, 1998-2004) and an official representative of the Chinese Government in the Inter-Governmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC, 2004-2005), a member of the Expert Group on Biotech for the High Commissioner on Human Rights of the United Nations (2002-2003), a member of the WHO Working Groups (2002, 2005, etc.), as well as a member of the International Research Panel of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues of the United States (2011-2014). Yang was also a member of the European Focus on Biotechnology in China (EFBIC, 2003-), and vice President of European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLS, 2005-). He is also Chair of the TWAS Advisory Committee on Covid (2021-present).
