Guang-Yu Yang, MD, PhD
Chair, Department of Pathology; Professor; Carolyn Wingate Hyde Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
Department: Pathology
Phone: 804-828-0183
Email: GuangYu.Yang@vcuhealth.org
Guang-Yu Yang was appointed Chair of the Department of Pathology at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System in December 2024 and holds the Carolyn Wingate Hyde Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. He is board certified in Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology, with a subspecialty in gastrointestinal and liver-pancreatobiliary pathology.
He joins us from Northwestern University, where he spent the last 18 years, and since 2012, has held the endowed, Joseph C. Calandra Research Professor in Pathology and Toxicology professorship. In 2017, he was named vice chair and director of anatomic and surgical pathology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, a position overseeing 42 pathologists and a staff of more than 80 people in a clinical laboratory that handles more than 60,000 biopsies and surgically resected specimens, and more than 30,000 cytology specimens and 300 autopsies.
As a physician scientist, Dr. Yang’s research efforts focus on the molecular pathogenesis of chronic active inflammatory digestive diseases and the interception of chronic active inflammatory digestive disease-induced carcinogenesis, as well as clinical studies on eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders and liver pathology. He has also made significant contributions to clinical research on GI pathology, including IBD and colorectal cancer, mainly focused on the molecular pathogenesis of CRC and IBD-induced cancer. He presently holds active NIH grants, including one R01 grant.
Over the course of a 30-year career in medicine, Dr. Yang has authored 235 peer-reviewed publications and seven book chapters and is associate editor of the publication Molecular Carcinogenesis. He is a current member of the College of American Pathologists, the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology and the American Association for Cancer Research.
Dr. Yang received his MD and PhD degrees from China Medical University in Shenyang, China. He completed his pathology residency training at New York University Medical Center, followed by the John H. Yardley Fellowship in Gastrointestinal Liver Pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
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Dr. Guang-Yu Yang abbreviated CV
Education
Undergraduate/Graduate
1983 MD China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China
1986 MS in Tumor Pathology, Cancer Institute, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China
1992 Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology, Cancer Institute, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Postdoctoral Research Training
1994 Postdoctoral Fellow in Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
1995 Postdoctoral Associate, Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, Department of Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
Resident/Fellowship Training
2004 Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency training, New York University Medical Center, NYC
2005 GI/Liver Pathology Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institute/Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Licenses & Certifications
Medical License
State of Illinois
State of Virginia
State of New York (Inactive)
Board Certifications
Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, America Board of Pathology
Selected Awards & Honors
2025 CAPA distinguished Pathologist award from Chinese American Pathologist Association at USCAP Annual meeting/23rd CAPA Annual Meeting
2025 Carolyn Wingate Hyde Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
2016 The First inaugural Harold Eisenberg Research Scholar, The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University, Chicago IL.
2012 Joseph C. Calandra Professor in Pathology and Toxicology, Northwestern University, Chicago IL.
Recent Grants & Funding
Grants and Contracts
Active
R01-NIH/NIDDK DK137885
PI: G Yang 2/1/2024 - 1/31/2028
Title: Role of epoxy fatty acids - soluble epoxide hydrolase axis in intestinal mucosal barrier defense
NIH/NCI Contract Clinical Trial
NCPC NWU20-02-02 PI: G Yang 3/1/2021 - 1/30/2026
Title: Targeting Dominant-Negative Missense Mutant p53 by Atorvastatin for Reducing the Risk of Longstanding Ulcerative Colitis-Associated Cancer – Two-Arm, Randomized and Placebo-Controlled Phase II clinical trial $541,052/total
NIH U54AI117804, Agreement with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
PI: M Rothenberg
Subcontract PI: G Yang 8/15/14 - 8/31/2026 (NCE) $10.805 salary
Title: Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers
Completed
R01 (R01DK107767) NIH/NCI
PI: G Yang 4/5/16 - 3/31/2021 (NCE)
$321,772 direct costs/year 1.44 calendar months
Title: ω-3 derived epoxy fatty acids and sEH in pancreatitis-induced carcinogenesis
R01 (CA172431) NIH/NCI PI: G Yang 7/1/13 - 10/31/19 (NCE)
$220,865 direct costs/year 0.96 calendar months
Title: Inhibition of pancreatic carcinogenesis via targeting c-Raf and sEH
R01(CA164041) NIH/NCI PI: G Yang 08/09/12-12/31/18 (NCE)
$214,223 direct costs/year 1.44 calendar months
Title: Aldo-keto reductase family 1 member B10 AKR1B10 in pancreatic carcinogenesis
NMH/Digestive Health Foundation
PI: G. Yang 07/01/22 - 6/30/25 (NCE) $50,000 direct cost/year
Title: Pathogenesis of Achalasia
P01DK117824
NIH/NIDDK PI: Pandolfino 07/01/18 - 06/30/25 (NCE) 0.24 calendar months
Title: Disordered Tissue Biomechanics as a Driver of Esophageal Disease
Editorial Advisory Boards
2000 - present:
Editorial Board member, Biomolecules
Editorial Board member, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology
Editorial Board member, Journal of Clinical and Translational Pathology
Editorial Board member, American Journal of Translational Research
Editorial Board member, World Journal of Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology (WJGP)
Editorial Board member, World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG)
Editorial Board member, Chinese Journal of Practical Internal Medicine
Editorial Board member, ISRN Gastroenterology
Editorial Board member: Cell Pathology (ISSN: 2300-4266)
Professional Service (outside)
Current activities
Member of NCI Gastrointestinal Steering Committee: Rectal-Anal Task Force
Member of Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers
Recent Invited Presentations
2026 German Society of Pathology, 109th annual meeting speaker, entitled: “Granulomatous colitis: Crohn’s disease or beyond”, Augsburg, German.
2026, Pathology Grand Rounds, at Yale University, School of Medicine, entitled: “Breaking the Oncogenic Circuit: Degrading Mutant p53 via Cochaperone DNAJA1 Blockade”, New Haven, CT.
2025, VSP 2025 Annual Meeting Speaker, entitled: “Diagnostic Challenges in Pancreatic Biopsy Specimens”, Richmond, Virginia.
2024 ASCP annual meeting, Chicago, USA, Short Course, entitled: “Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease beyond the esophagus: consensus nomenclature and new international guidelines” Course co-director.
2023 USCAP annual meeting, New Orleans, USA, Short Course, entitled “Challenge and diagnosis in pancreas needle core biopsy” Course co-director.
2023 ASCP annual meeting, Long Beach, CA, USA, Short Course, entitled “Diagnostic Challenges in Lower Gastrointestinal Tract Ulcer: Morphological Pattern Recognition and Histopathological Approach” Course co-director.
2022 USCAP annual meeting, Los Angeles, USA, Short Course, entitle “Challenge and diagnosis in pancreas needle core biopsy” Course co-director.
2021 Speaker, College of America Pathology (CAP) annual meeting, Chicago, Medscape Event/Symposium, entitled “Setting the Bar on EGIDs Diagnosis”.
2017 Organizing Committee Member - The International Symposium on the Application of IP6 and Inositol in Health and Other Fields, “Inhibition of colitis-induced carcinogenesis by inositol compounds”, Xi’an, China.
2017 The 5th Annual Hormel Institute International Cancer Research, “Chemoprevention of Colitis-induced carcinogenesis via Targeting Soluble epoxide hydrolase”, Austin, MN.
2017 Experimental Biology Meeting at Chicago Speaker at ASIP symposium session of Cancer Chemoprevention and Biomarker development, “Chemoprevention of inflammation-induced carcinogenesis via targeting soluble epoxide hydrolase and aldokeno-reductase 1B10 (AKR1B10)”, Chicago, IL.
2017 Yale University, Department of Pathology, Grant Rounds Talk: “Role of Mevalonate Metabolic Pathway in Mutant Kras/p53-driven pancreatic carcinogenesis”, New Heaven, CT.
Selected Publications
Peer Reviewed Papers
Sun L, Tang A, Liao J, Yang GY. Distinct Single-Cell Expression Pattern of the Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase and Cytochrome p450 Epoxygenases in Human and Mouse Small Intestinal Epithelia. J Histochem Cytochem. 2026 Mar-Apr;74(2):163-179. PMID: 41449646
Li Y, Wei C, Yang W, Wang H, Robinson A, Peshek I, Yu T, Park J, Ding JY, Hanauer SB, Bellaguarda E, Yun L, Sumagin R, Yang GY, Mason CE, Lewis JD, Fang D, Cong Y, Luo Y, Dulai PS. Spatial transcriptomics atlas of inflammatory bowel disease to guide implementation in research consortiums and clinical trials. Nat Commun. 2026 Apr 28. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-72482-w. Online ahead of print. PMID: 42049732
Rilee GJ, Radhakrishnan SK, Yang GY, Li J. The Role of FOSL1 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Pathogenesis and IBD-Associated Tumorigenesis. Biomolecules. 2026 Apr 27;16(5):647. PMID: 42193998
AM Elshazly, J Li, GY Yang, SK Radhakrishnan: Mcl1 as a Molecular Switch Linking Inflammatory Bowel Diseases to Colorectal Tumorigenesis. Biomolecules. 2026 May 7;16(5):694. PMID: 42194042
Kliewer KL, Abonia JP, Aceves SS, Atkins D, Bonis PA, Capocelli KE, Chehade M, Collins MH, Dellon ES, Fei L, Furuta GT, Gupta SK, Kagalwalla A, Leung J, Mir S, Mukkada VA, Pesek R, Rosenberg C, Shoda T, Spergel JM, Sun Q, Wechsler JB, Yang GY, Rothenberg ME. One-food versus 4-food elimination diet for pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis: A multisite randomized trial. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2025 Feb;155(2):520-532. PMID: 39233016
Tujios SR, Rule JA, Sussman N, Rakela JL, Ganger D, Bass N, Reuben A, Stravitz RT, Kleiner D, Wang H, Choi EK, Peng L, Yeh M, Hatfield B, Yang GY, Gill R, Fontana RJ, Lee WM; Acute Liver Failure Study Group. Clinical and pathological spectrum of disease severity among patients with acute liver failure (ALF) undergoing deceased donor liver transplantation. Liver Transpl. 2025 Nov 1;31(11):1368-1378. PMID: 40341552
Lyu H, Chen X, Cheng Y, Zhang T, Wang P, Wong JH, Wang J, Stasiak L, Sun L, Yang G, Wang L, Yue F. Pioneer factor GATA6 promotes colorectal cancer through 3D genome regulation. Science Advances. 2025 Feb 7;11(6):eads4985. PMID: 39919174
Jennifer Y Ju, David J Escobar , Yue Xue, Adam L Booth , Jessica Nguyen, Guang-Yu Yang: Small bowel pyloric metaplasia is associated with lower rates of earlier recurrence of Crohn's disease after resection. Hum Pathol., 2024 Sep:151:105629. PMID: 39029533
Amanda Meindl, M. Sambasiva Rao and Guang-Yu Yang. Unique Morphologic Features of a Case of Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome in the Colon: Extensive Mucosal Lipofuscin Pigmented Histiocytes and Crohn’s-like Mucosal Granulomatous Colitis. Journal of Clinical and Translational Pathology 2024 vol. 4(4):172–177. DOI: 10.14218/JCTP.2024.00038
Chornenkyy Y, Fink MC, Felicelli C, Stowell SR, Ramsey GE, Yang GY. Characterising the challenges of managing difficult red blood cell alloantibodies in liver transplant recipients. J Clin Pathol. 2024 May 15:jcp-2024-209399. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38749663
Abe,K; Maunze,B; Lopez,PA; Xu,J; Muhammad,N; Yang,GY; Katz,D; Liu,Y; Lauberth,SM: Downstream-of-gene (DoG) transcripts contribute to an imbalance in the cancer cell transcriptome. Science advances. 2024 Jul; 2375-2548. PMID: 38959318
Bu HF, Subramanian S, Chou PM, Liu F, Sun L, Geng H, Wang X, Liao J, Du C, Hu J, Tan SC, Nathan N, Yang GY, Tan XD. A novel mouse model of hepatocyte-specific apoptosis-induced myeloid cell-dominant sterile liver injury and repair response. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2024 Oct 1;327(4):G499-G512. PMID: 39104322
Bu HF, Subramanian S, Chou PM, Liu F, Sun L, Geng H, Wang X, Liao J, Du C, Hu J, Tan SC, Nathan N, Yang GY, Tan XD. A novel mouse model of hepatocyte-specific apoptosis-induced myeloid cell-dominant sterile liver injury and repair response. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2024 Oct 1;327(4):G499-G512. PMID: 39104322
Arva NC, Bernieh A, Lopez-Nunez O, Pletneva M, Yang GY, Collins MH. Histopathology of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Diseases Beyond Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Immunol Allergy Clin North Am. 2024 May;44(2):369-381. Epub 2024 Feb 14. PMID: 38575230
Collins MH, Arva NC, Bernieh A, Lopez-Nunez O, Pletneva M, Yang GY, Histopathology of Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Immunol Allergy Clin North Am. 2024 May;44(2):205-221. Epub 2024 Jan 16. PMID: 38575219
Obeng RC, Escobar DJ, Vadasz B, Zheng W, Ju JY, Booth AL, Yang GY, Al Diffalha S, Dhall D, Westerhoff M, Xue Y. Histologic Features of Liver Injury Associated With SARS-CoV-2 Messenger RNA Vaccines. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2024 Sep 9. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39246098
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