Honoring Innovation and Resilience: Dr. Jason Yang Receives the 2025 Theobald Smith Young Investigator Award

The Theobald Smith Society is proud to present the 14th Young Investigator Award to Dr. Jason H. Yang, Assistant Professor and Chancellor Scholar at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. A rising star in microbial systems biology, Dr. Yang exemplifies the scientific excellence, creativity, and leadership that this award was created to honor.

Dr. Yang’s path to this recognition is a remarkable story of interdisciplinary achievement. He began with dual undergraduate degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, followed by a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia, where he earned accolades as the Outstanding Graduate Student. His postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard launched him into the cutting edge of medical engineering, infectious diseases, and systems biology.

Now at Rutgers, Dr. Yang directs the Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab, where he and his team address some of the most urgent global health challenges. His research tackles antimicrobial resistance, tuberculosis, and heart failure—diseases that demand innovative, systems-level approaches. By combining high-throughput experimentation, network modeling, and machine learning, Dr. Yang builds predictive models to uncover how pathogens interact with host systems and how treatments can be optimized for precision medicine.

His work is not only academically rigorous, but also highly translational. This unique blend of engineering, computation, and biology earned him both the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award in 2016 and the Agilent Early Career Professor Award in 2021—two markers of national recognition for emerging leaders in biomedical science.

During the award presentation at the Spring Symposium, the audience was reminded that we’ll be hearing much more from Dr. Yang this Fall, as he is set to deliver a keynote talk at the TSS Fall Symposium. His remarks at the Spring meeting struck a tone of cautious optimism and solidarity, especially for younger scientists facing uncertainty.

“I believe that the mission of ASM is really important, especially in times like this, where it feels like the world is burning down,” Dr. Yang said. “I have a message for the trainees: Don't lose hope! Science will continue… Keep calm, carry on.”

He also emphasized the importance of civic engagement, encouraging his colleagues and students to stay connected. “As private citizens, the best thing that we can do is become active and vocal and try our best.”

In honoring Dr. Jason Yang, the Theobald Smith Society celebrates not only his groundbreaking contributions to microbiology and systems medicine but also his dedication to mentoring, scientific resilience, and societal impact. We look forward to the discoveries yet to come.