Yihong Yang, Ph.D.

Research and treatment of psychiatric disorders are stymied by a lack of biomarkers—objective biological or physiological markers that can help diagnose, track, predict, and treat diseases. In a new study, researchers use a very large dataset to identify predictive brain imaging-based biomarkers of mental illness in adolescents. The work appears in Biological Psychiatry.

Traditionally, psychiatric disorders such as depression have been diagnosed based on symptoms according to subjective assessments. The identification of biomarkers to aid in diagnosis and treatment selection would greatly advance treatments.

In the current study, the investigators used brain imaging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study of nearly 12,000 children aged 9 to 10 at the beginning of the study. Modern neuroimaging techniques, including resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis, allow researchers to investigate the organization of brain circuits through their interaction with one another over time… Continue reading.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Yihong Yang, Ph.D., Senior Investigator and Chief of MR Imaging and Spectroscopy Section, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, to its College of Fellows. Dr. Yang was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for outstanding contributions to the development and application of functional magnetic resonance imaging to psychiatric disorders.