Medical resident serves profession and the community

Holding a PhD in genetics and an MBA in health care administration as well as an MD, Andy Yang, BS’06, MD, PhD, MBA, chief surgery resident, provides powerful testimony to America’s immigration tradition. A native of Taiwan who moved to Omaha at the age of 15, he is chief surgery resident at CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center – Bergan Mercy, where he is researching ways to improve the delivery of health care services.

“Ultimately, my research interest is devising personalized medicine treatment plans based on genetic makeup with an emphasis on cost-benefit efficiency,” he says. Key to that effort is embracing Creighton’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach when treating patients.

“It has been shown that surgical efficiency can be improved by using a multidisciplinary team approach,” Yang says. “Better communication helps all around. Anticipating what supplies and instruments will be needed during surgery based on patient procedure helps us to be more efficient, which in turn shortens surgery and anesthesia time, which reduces costs and, in theory, should improve patient outcomes as well.”

Beyond his many medical commitments, Yang is active in the wider community. “I am a firm believer in community engagement and humanitarian missions,” he says. “Whether it is taking care of people locally here in Nebraska or internationally.”

He is co-founder and vice president of a nonprofit organization called Self-Empowered Humanitarians for Relief Mission, which seeks to help those in need to fight oppression and hardship through peaceful means regardless of geographic location, religious belief or cultural background. He will be joining CHI Health in 2023.

Yang was recently featured in Partners in Excellence, a joint publication of Creighton University and CHI Health.