Veronica Chiang, MD, RES ’00, has been making her mark at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) for more than three decades—as a trainee, neurosurgeon, faculty member, distinguished researcher in the radiosurgical treatment of brain metastases and other brain lesions, and leader on YSM’s admissions team. She began her training in neurosurgery at YSM and has charted an impactful career here ever since.
What has kept Chiang anchored here? She says, “I really enjoy the New Haven community, and everyone at YSM has been so collaborative and supportive. It would be hard to replicate all the relationships that I have built here elsewhere. We push each other to develop new things and do better, and I appreciate that.”
Fascination With the Brain
A yearlong fellowship in neurosurgery at YSM led Chiang into this field. She was drawn to the mystery of the brain, and that fascination continues. “We are beginning to understand the structural connections of the brain, but there’s that whole concept of the soul that we don’t understand at all,” Chiang says. “The brain remains very much an area of study today. I wanted to be a part of that.”
Following her residency and career launch at YSM, Chiang took on diverse responsibilities and rose through the ranks. Today her roles include professor of neurosurgery, director of the Yale Gamma Knife Center, leader of the Brain Metastasis Program, and assistant dean of admissions.
Chiang has consistently been at the forefront of the field of neurosurgery, advancing it and employing the latest technologies, such as minimally invasive laser thermal ablation. She is among the first and longest users of this technology in the United States.
One emerging area that especially excites Chiang is functional neurosurgery. She recalls the case of a patient she assisted during her residency. That individual was treated for multiple brain metastases. The YSM team cured the cancer, but the patient was left with serious vision and mobility challenges and questioned whether her quality of life was worth it. Chiang says, “That was really impactful for me. I realized that we had a long, long way to go from a functional standpoint; one of the goals of treating cancer should also be to return people to normal.”
Admissions Work
When not seeing patients, conducting research, or teaching, Chiang enjoys doing admissions work. She has helped bring new students to YSM for the past 20 years. Three years ago, she was appointed assistant dean of admissions.
“When I was appointed assistant dean, I received a lot of emails from alumni saying congratulations and ‘I’d really like to help … I want to give back to the school,’” she says. “I think it really speaks to the fact that many alumni loved their time here and remember it fondly. I am eager to engage alumni at multiple levels, and what I really hope students can get from alumni is that enthusiasm for Yale School of Medicine and how the school helped them form their lives. While courses and professors have changed over time, the Yale System and the whole Yale community feel are still here. So, however alumni feel they could impart their sentiments and be involved in recruiting students would be great.”
Moreover, with YSM’s new admissions director, Erik Choisy, JD, on board, Chiang anticipates that the admissions team will be doing a lot more outreach, not only to high schools and colleges but also through joint activities with YSM alumni. “We’re very excited about this,” Chiang adds.
Lifelong Learning and Service
Always eager to embrace new experiences, Chiang seized the opportunity to participate in a two-week mission trip to Zambia in March with her husband, York P. Moy ’89, MD ’93, RES ’00.
The unique opportunity surfaced via the YSM alumni network. A few months ago, when Chiang was at a meeting in Denver, Colorado, she reached out to Peggy Schrieber ’85, MD, RES ’00, a general surgeon there who had been a resident at YSM at the same time as Chiang, and asked if she would like to meet for dinner. During their meal, Schrieber said, “Do you want to come to Zambia?” She quickly clarified that it was primarily Chiang’s husband, a urologist, whom she wished to recruit for the mission trip to Zambia she was planning, one of many that she had organized over the past 25 years to assist a community hospital in Mwandi. The hospital had a dire need for a urologist to help treat men in the community and possibly build the capability to perform urological surgeries.
Having previously talked about doing mission work, Chiang and Moy agreed to travel to Zambia and contribute their time and talents. Chiang says, “We kind of rediscovered this part of our interest.”
The duo was heavily involved in pre-trip planning. Chiang says, “It was a fascinating process just thinking about the trip, what resources the hospital had, or mostly didn’t have, and what you realistically thought you could achieve with the resources you had. It was a huge learning experience.” Given the ill-equipped facilities, they collected equipment and supplies to bring with them and were amazed at how generous people were in donating and loaning resources.
Chiang mused, “I didn’t know anything about urology. But there was actually a lot for me to do—basically everything except the actual surgery! I have a whole new respect for our nurses and technologists in the OR.” With the resources that Chiang and Moy brought, they and the team in Zambia were able to offer surgical treatment to patients with severe urinary retention due to benign prostatic hypertrophy or urethral strictures. Chiang says, “The circumstances were challenging, and we have yet to see the results, but we’re expecting them to be good.”
Back at home, Chiang has returned to all that she finds fulfilling in her work. At the top of that list is interacting with YSM students. She says, “I love the residents and medical students. They always have great questions and bring excitement and interest to this field. They’re younger, smarter, faster. They keep me challenged.”