Yuan Chang, M.D.

Yuan Chang, M.D.

University of Pittsburgh Hillman Comprehensive Cancer Institute

Yuan Chang, M.D., is a distinguished professor in the department of pathology and holds the UPMC Endowed Chair in Cancer Virology at the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Comprehensive Cancer Institute. She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and her M.D. from the University of Utah. In 1993, following completion of her pathology residency at University of California San Francisco and neuropathology fellowship training at Stanford University, she joined the faculty at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

In 1994, Chang co-discovered (with her husband Patrick S. Moore) Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus or human herpesvirus 8 (KSHV/HHV8) as the cause of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), the most common AIDS-associated malignancy. In 2002, Chang moved to the University of Pittsburgh where the Chang-Moore laboratory identified the most recently discovered human tumor virus, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV).

Chang is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, American Academy of Microbiology, American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. She has been the recipient of multiple honors, including the Robert Koch Prize, the Paul Marks Prize, the Mott Prize of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation and an American Cancer Society Research Professorship.