Jacky Yeung, MD, FAANS

Dr. Jacky Yeung is a board-certified, fellowship-trained neurosurgeon who started residency in neurosurgery in 2013 after completing undergraduate studies at University of British Columbia in Honors Physiology and his MD degree at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and was elected to the AANS Young Neurosurgeons Committee in 2016. He obtained his fellowship training at the Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery in Sydney, Australia under Dr. Charles Teo. During that time, he published widely on the use of machine learning to study the human functional connectome and was the first neurosurgeon to publish on the use of personalized pre-operative brain mapping during intracerebral surgeries. Moreover, Dr. Yeung's breadth of expertise is further highlighted by his authorship in the book "Connectomic Medicine," which dives into advancing understanding in connectomics, a field integral to his research endeavors, particularly in the study of the human functional connectome.

He was the recipient of the prestigious Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship. As a tumor immunologist, he identified the presence of specific antigens in childhood and adult ependymomas, which led to a NIH-funded clinical trial utilizing a peptide vaccine (#NCT01795313). He focused on mechanisms of immune escape in adult gliomas, specifically the relationship between LOH of HLA Class I and decreased survival in GBM patients. During residency, he was the recipient of the prestigious AANS Tumor Section Research Award and focused on identifying novel immune check-point molecules under the mentorship of Lieping Chen, MD, PhD. To date, he has characterized the tumor immune microenvironment in malignant meningiomas and identified a major mechanism by which these tumors evades anti-tumor immunity. He has published widely in prestigious journals such as Clinical Cancer Research, Journal of Neuro-oncology, Neuro-Oncology, and Science Immunology.

In addition to his extensive work in tumor immunology and machine learning applications in neurosurgery, Dr. Yeung has also developed a significant expertise in endoscopic cranial and spinal surgery. He is one of the few surgeons in the country to have endoscopic expertise in the treatment for both brain and spinal disorders. His proficiency in this area is further demonstrated through his national lectures, where he shares his knowledge and techniques with fellow neurosurgeons, contributing to the advancement of minimally invasive neurosurgical practices.