About
Biography
For event organisers and editors: this biography may be reused as written.
Dr Justin C Yang is a psychiatric epidemiologist and Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Psychiatry at University College London, and an Associate Editor of Addiction. Dr Yang’s research asks what happens to people whose needs fall between services, such as school and health care, mental health and addiction treatment, and health and social care: who is identified, who reaches treatment or support, and who falls through the gaps.
Dr Yang holds a UKRI Mental Health Platform Cross-Hub Fellowship (WISDOM, 2026 to 2029), and has led an NIHR Team Science award on England’s national drug and alcohol treatment data (UNITED) and an ADR UK fellowship on the education and health of neurodivergent pupils (HOPE-SEN). Dr Yang is Deputy Lead of the North London NHS Foundation Trust research database and an Expert Member of the Health Research Authority’s Confidentiality Advisory Group, and holds a PhD in Public Health and Primary Care from the University of Cambridge and an MSPH in Health Policy from Johns Hopkins University.
Roles and recognition
Editorial and peer review
Associate Editor, Addiction (2025–)
Member, ESRC Peer Review College (2025–)
Expert Assessor, Administrative Data Research UK (2025–)
Member, Society for the Study of Addiction Reviewer College (2025–)
Editorial Board Member, Substance Use: Research and Treatment (2022–)
National research governance and policy
Written evidence, House of Commons Education Committee, on persistent school absence among autistic pupils and pupils with intellectual disability (ECA0106, 2026)
Expert Member, Confidentiality Advisory Group, Health Research Authority (2026–)
Member, ADR UK Task and Finish Group on the data access journey (2026–)
Public Member, Data Access Committee, Eastern England Secure Data Environment (2026–)
Steering Committee Member, Addiction Healthcare Goals (2025–)
Steering Group Member, NIHR Mental Health Research Incubator (2025–)
Research infrastructure
Co-lead, HDR UK and DARE UK project embedding national public involvement standards in the research database’s governance (2025–26)
Deputy Lead (2024–), previously Database Manager (2019–2024), North London NHS Foundation Trust research database. Led the integration of two trusts’ research data after their merger; has advised on 31 research projects; contributes to harmonisation with the equivalent databases at South London and Maudsley, Oxford Health, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Leadership at UCL
Elected Member, UCL Academic Board (2026–)
Open Science Champion, Faculty of Brain Sciences (2025–)
Research Development Programme Lead, Division of Psychiatry (2023–25)
Lead, Culture Change Action Group, Division of Psychiatry (2022–); designed and led the Division’s Athena SWAN listening exercise on bullying, harassment, and inclusion
Coordinator, the Division’s community of non-clinical early career researchers, around 50–60 members (2022–), now with colleagues
Career
- Senior Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry, UCL (2025–)
- Visiting Lecturer, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London (2021–2025)
- Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry, UCL (2019–2025)
- Senior Associate, Avalere Health, Washington DC (2014–2015)
Education
- PhD, Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge (2019)
- MSPH, Health Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2015)
- BSc, Cell Biology and Genetics, and BA (Hons), English, University of British Columbia (2012)
Manuscript review
I review manuscripts across psychiatry, epidemiology, substance use, public health, and health services research. The list below is generated from my ORCID peer-review record.
Selected journals for which I have served as a peer reviewer
- Addiction
- The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
- American Journal of Men’s Health
- American Journal of Preventive Medicine
- American Journal on Addictions
- Annals of General Psychiatry
- Applied Economics
- BMC Primary Care
- BMC Public Health
- Drug and Alcohol Dependence
- Emerging Trends in Drugs Addictions and Health
- Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
- Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy
- Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
- International Journal for Equity in Health
- The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
- Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
- Journal of Psychopharmacology
- PLOS Global Public Health
- Psychological Medicine
- Psychological Services
- Scientific Reports
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Substance Abuse Research and Treatment
- Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy