Michael Yao is an MD-PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania passionate about engineering solutions to improve human health and wellbeing.
ML graduate student
I am an MD-PhD candidate advised by James Gee in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, I was a research scientist intern at Microsoft Research advised by Michael Hansen.
My research focuses on building safe and robust neural networks for medical image analysis and patient healthcare data. I explore problems related to distributional shift and domain generalization for tasks such as lesion detection, uncertainty quantification, and out-of-distribution detection. I am also interested in developing methods to improve patient accessibility to healthcare.

self.Timeline
"""Some professional and life milestones."""
self.Changelog
"""Recent news and publications."""
self.Handles
"""Where to find me on the internet."""
self.Teaching
- Head TA, CIS 7000: Health, Healthcare and Technology (University of Pennsylvania)
- TA, Introduction to Clinical Ultrasound Skills (University of Pennsylvania)
- TA, Student Report in Pre-Clinical Medicine (University of Pennsylvania)
- Head TA, ACM95a: Complex Analysis and ODEs (Caltech)
- TA, Ph106a: Graduate-Level Mechanics and Special Relativity (Caltech)
- TA, ACM95b: PDEs (Caltech)
- TA, Ph12b: Quantum Mechanics (Caltech)
- TA, Ph12a: Waves and ODEs (Caltech)
- TA, CS 24: Computer Operating Systems (Caltech)
- TA, Ph1c: Freshman E&M (Caltech)
- TA, Ph1b: Freshman E&M and Special Relativity (Caltech)
self.Outreach
I am currently working as Vice Chair of the Technology Committee for the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA). I am also the Director of Data Science and AI for MD+, a community of over 3,000 medical students and physicians. I serve as the full-stack developer and a volunteer mentor for MD Collective, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit aimed at making medical school admissions more accessible for underrepresented students.
During college, I served as editor-in-chief of the Caltech Undergraduate Research Journal, and was a volunteer tutor for Caltech students through the Deans' tutoring program, and for local high school students through the RISE Tutoring Program. I also helped develop the freshman core curriculum while serving on the Caltech Academics and Research Committee and was also a student ambassador for the Summer Undergraduate Research Program.
I am actively involved in Penn's interview and recruitment process for medical school admissions. I set aside an hour a week to meet with current students for pro bono feedback on applications and general college advice, especially for underrepresented students from minority backgrounds. If you're interested in connecting, feel free to reach out to me via email or Twitter.
michael-s-yao
@michael-s-yao
@michael_s_yao