Jen Yu, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair

After joining the UCI's  Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation in 1981, Dr. Jen Yu became Department Chair in 1982. Dr. Yu earned his M.D. from National Taiwan University and his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Yu did his residency in PM&R at the University of Pennsylvania and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Neurological Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Yu is board certified in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

Dr. Yu is a member of many professional and scientific societies. Among them are the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Association of Academic Physiatrists, the American Association of Anatomists, the Society for Neuroscience, the International Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine.

Dr. Yu has served on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the Specialty Advisory Board of Modern Medicine. He is currently on the Editorial Advisory Board of Critical Reviews in Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine and has been since 1989. Dr. Yu was a guest oral examiner for the American Board of Physical Medicine for three different years. Dr. Yu was a member of the Research Committee of the Association of Academic Physiatrists and American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and also the K-12 Grant Steering Committee of the Association of Academic Physiatrists. He is chair of the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Scientific Committee, Council on Scientific Affairs, of the California Medical Association.

Dr. Yu’s major research interest is the neurobiological basis of rehabilitation medicine including studies on interrelated areas of neural plasticity such as recovery of function after central nervous system injury, learning and memory, and brain development. He has over one hundred research publications.