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Shi Huang

Even top American doctors are now relocating to China.
On July 21, Westlake University in Hangzhou announced that Shen Yang, a top endocrinologist in Los Angeles, had joined its medical school.
Shen’s move is striking because of her credentials, which include over 16 years of clinical experience in the United States, board certifications in internal medicine and endocrinology, and a thriving practice in southern California.
She is the first clinical doctor at the Westlake University school of medicine to hold a US medical licence. She will be a teaching faculty member at the school.
Before returning to China, Shen was named a “top endocrinologist in LA” by Los Angeles Magazine for several consecutive years. For this honour, she was nominated by her peers and selected from among thousands of doctors in southern California.
Shen took an unconventional path to studying medicine in the United States. As an undergraduate at Fudan University in Shanghai, she studied sociology rather than medicine or related disciplines. In the late 1990s, China was in a period of social transformation, and she was attracted to the theory of community work at the time.
After graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 1997, she went to the United States and earned master’s degrees in sociology and biostatistics from the State University of New York at Albany.
According to an interview published on Westlake University’s website on July 21, one event during this period changed the course of her life. A young friend suddenly suffered cardiac arrest while playing basketball and gradually recovered following emergency treatment and intensive care.
She said it was the first time she had faced death and healing up close, and the experience inspired her to become a doctor.
After finishing her master’s degree programmes, she worked while preparing for medical school in her spare time.
After more than three years of preparation, she was admitted to the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. In her class of 100 medical students, she was the only one to have completed her undergraduate studies outside the US or Canada.
After graduating from medical school in 2010, Shen completed specialty training in endocrinology at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre.
She is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine and endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism.
While in California, she worked at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Centre and Huntington Health in Pasadena.
She focused on treating Type 2 diabetes in both adults and children. Her expertise also includes thyroid and parathyroid ultrasound imaging and cranial ultrasound evaluations.


According to Westlake, among the things Shen brought to China was a yellow file folder containing dozens of greeting cards and letters from her American patients.
One of the cards read: “Thank you so much for your care. I lost over 30lbs (13.6kg), started running, and completed a 10-mile (16km) race! I feel much better and happier.”
Westlake University’s medical school was established in 2023 to cultivate top “physician-scientists” – biomedical experts with both outstanding research abilities and exceptional clinical skills.
The school was founded by Dong Chen, who was previously a tenured chair professor in the immunology department at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre and dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Medicine.
In June 2024, Westlake University’s medical school recruited Zhang Xiaoming from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. He is now as a teaching faculty member at Westlake University while also overseeing the establishment and teaching operations of the Basic Medical Teaching Centre within the school of medicine.
The South China Morning Post has contacted Shen and Westlake University for comment.


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China

Recognised as a ‘top endocrinologist’ in southern California, Shen will be first US-licensed clinical doctor at the Chinese medical school


Recognised as a ‘top endocrinologist’ in southern California, Shen will be first US-licensed clinical doctor at the Chinese medical school.


United States

Hangzhou

Westlake University

University of Chicago

Top Los Angeles diabetes doctor Shen Yang joins China’s Westlake University

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Recognised as a ‘top endocrinologist’ in southern California, Shen will be first US-licensed clinical doctor at the Chinese medical school

Recognised as a ‘top endocrinologist’ in southern California, Shen will be first US-licensed clinical doctor at the Chinese medical school