Dr. Yang has extensive experiences in clinical service, research and teaching. After completing psychiatric residency training in 1996, he served at Chien Hsin and Ho Hsin Medical Centers (振興醫學中心 and 和信治癌中心) in Taiwan for two years. His expertise in conducting peer support groups for cancer patients and women with marital difficulties gained much publicity through news media’s attention.
He worked as a psychiatrist on the Asian Focus inpatient ward at the San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) from 1998 to 2009 serving culturally diverse patient population in San Francisco. Many have severe and persistent mental illness. He oversaw a multi-disciplinary treatment team consists of a psychologist, social worker, and nursing staff. He supervised closely with UCSF psychiatric residents and medical students.
Besides of psychopharmacologic intervention, Dr. Yang places special emphasis on incorporating spirituality in psychiatric treatment. He took a leadership role in developing staff spirituality groups in the hospital to facilitate cultivation of mindfulness and therapeutic empathy toward patients. He obtained a research grant from UCSF and found that such intervention was effective in improving staff’s quality of life and reducing their work stress. He published several articles including “Working with Spiritual Issues in Clinical Practice” in Psychiatric Annals and “Indigenous and Cultural Psychology: A book review from the Transpersonal Psychology perspective” in Pastoral Psychology.
