SNAC Member: Yanling Yu, Ph.D.
President
Washington Advocate for Patient Safety
Yanling Yu, Ph.D., is an advocate for improving quality of care and patient safety prevention of healthcare-associated infections, healthcare transparency, and patient-centered care.
Dr. Yu and her husband, Rex Johnson, were the architects of the Washington State law that requires State healthcare regulatory boards to be more transparent to the public. They co-founded Washington Advocates for Patient Safety, a nonprofit and consumer-based organization. Dr. Yu is also a board member of Patient Safety Action Network, a national coalition, and a successor to the historic Consumers Union Safe Patient Project.
Dr. Yu serves as a commissioner on the Washington Medical Commission, a member of the National Quality Forum Patient Safety Committee, and a member of the Washington State Healthcare-Associated Infection Advisory Committee. Previously, she served as a consumer representative on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee.
Dr. Yu is also a member of the teaching faculty for Train-the-Trainer and the national TeamSTEPPS trainings at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She earned her Ph.D. in physical oceanography from the University of Washington.
