Prof Yen is Professor at the School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong. She received her Ph.D. from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor followed by her postdoctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

Prof Yen’s research focuses on identifying factors that drive the spread of respiratory viruses through both laboratory experiments and field studies, with the goal of developing effective interventions to break the “agent-host-environment” interactions critical for viral spread. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to investigate the relative importance of different transmission modes within and between species. Her laboratory also studies viral adaptation to changing within-host environments, virus–host interactions critical for host switching, and the effects of pre-existing immunity on influenza infection and transmission.