Scott Yang, MD, PhD

	Joined Jul, 2005 Department: Cardiology [Map] Title: Physician Degree: MD, PhD Languages: English Physician Homepage
Bio I joined Santa Rosa Kaiser in 2005. I am very happy to be a part of this wonderful group of people working for a common goal. I was born in South Korea, spent my childhood years in Japan, then my teen years in Honolulu. I am ashamed to admit that my proficiency with the Korean language is nil, with Japanese close to nil (except for names of foods I like). I loved growing up in Hawaii, not only for its natural beauty, but also because it is the melting pot of so many cultures. An event in my childhood that seemed ordinary at the time, but would in fact profoundly affect my future life, was a summer school geometry class. There I met a freckled faced girl who was as good at trigonometry as I was. She became a good friend, and later my wife. I went to Harvard for college, majoring in physics. I started graduate school in physics at UC Berkeley (where I worked with the group now famous for their work with supernovas) then completed my PhD at Harvard (on quantum donuts). By that point in my life, I thought my interests and talents were better suited for medicine, so I switched careers and attended Harvard Medical School. I did my internal medicine residency in Seattle, followed by additional cardiology training in San Antonio. These days, my family is happily exploring Northern California with our golden retriever.
My Medical Specialty
More details about my specialty: As a cardiologist, I do not perform heart surgery, but I help to diagnose heart problems, advise patients on medications and lifestyle changes that may be helpful, and also advise when surgery may be necessary. I enjoy cardiology for its many varied facets. On the one hand, it is very high-tech (using ultrasound, radio-isotopes, magnetic resonance and CT, medicated stents, pacemakers and defibrillators, to name a few), and the physicist in me enjoys this aspect. On the other hand, I love the old-fashioned nature of cardiology, where we often follow our patients for years and have the chance to get to know our patients as people.
Interests
Our family began camping when we lived in the Seattle area, where there are plenty of great campgrounds. I started flyfishing in Montana while working in a rural clinic in a small wonderful town named Dillon. I was surprised to see that the famous rivers of Montana are so small but they were certainly very beautiful.
Family & Friends


Travel
Favorite place in the world: During my medical training in Seattle, I had the opportunity to work for a month in rural Montana, and during that trip our family visited Glacier National Park. What an amazing place. We saw black bears, grizzlies, elk, moose, bison, and beavers. The funniest animal encounter occurred during a hike when we were looking for mountain goats, sitting at a lookout over a valley where the goats were recently seen. We asked our children to be quiet, to not scare away the goats, and we looked intently into an empty goatless valley. While we continued to search in vain, a foreign tourist tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to something behind us. There they stood -- a mother and baby mountain goat, just a few yards away, clearly interested in our PBJ sandwiches. One of my recent trips: Here are some photos from places where we have lived recently. First is a picture of the view from our apartment in Boston on too many winter days. I know it looks picturesque, but believe me, it loses its charm after a few months of frigid cold. Our next home was in Seattle where we enjoyed the outdoors. Here is a picture of killer whales that we saw in the Puget Sound, about 2 hours north of Seattle. They were about 100 yards from the coast -- we took these photos from the road (not from a kayak!). Our next move was to San Antonio. On our family's flight from Seattle to San Antonio, we were all bumped from our airline flight -- and with those vouchers we were able to visit Mexico City a few months later. The highlight of the trip was climbing the pyramids at Teotihuacan. San Antonio is in a beautiful part of Texas. We spent a weekend at Corpus Christi which is about 2 hours away. It was our first time on the Gulf of Mexico -- we were amazed at how different it was from the beaches in Hawaii where we grew up. Near San Antonio is the "Hill Country" where there are several rivers popular for inner tubing. Here we are floating down a river in Bandera.	A Photo of One of My Favorite Places: Unexpected visitors at Glacier National Park Trip Photos: Floating down the river in Bandera Horseback riding at Corpus Christi Pyramid at Teotihuacan Killer whales in the Puget Sound View from our apartment in Boston