Catherine Yawei Zhu
•Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery, University of California, Irvine Medical Center
•Staff Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Long Beach Veteran Affairs Hospital
Biography
Catherine Yawei Zhu, M.D., is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center and a Staff Surgeon at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Hospital. She completed her Doctor of Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, followed by a general surgery residency at the University of California Los Angeles and a colon and rectal surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota.
During her training at UCLA, Dr. Zhu conducted research on endocrine surgery and thyroid cancer management, supported by two consecutive H & H Lee Surgical Research Scholars Grants totaling $50,000. Her work has focused on the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules, primary hyperparathyroidism, and pheochromocytoma, as well as colorectal cancer treatment. She has published over 18 peer-reviewed articles in journals including JAMA Surgery, JAMA Oncology, and Annals of Surgical Oncology.
She is double board certified by the American Board of Surgery and American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.
Return to topEducation
- M.D., Stony Brook University School of Medicine, 2016
- B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, Emphasis in Infectious Diseases, University of California Berkeley, 2011
Distinctions
- Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, Junior Inductee, 2015
- American College of Surgeons Travel Awards Scholarship, Stony Brook School of Medicine, 2015
- Student Teaching Award, UCLA General Surgery Residency Program, 2018-2019
- Academic Merit Award, Stony Brook School of Medicine, 2015
- Dean's List, UC Berkeley, 2009
Areas of Expertise
- Endocrine and Colorectal Surgery
- Rectal Cancer Adjuvant Chemotherapy
- Thyroid Nodule Molecular Testing
- Narcotic-Free Postoperative Pain Management
- Primary Hyperparathyroidism Management
- Pheochromocytoma Alpha-Blockade Comparison
Recent Publications
- Zhu CY, Troester A, Mott S, Jensen CC, Prakash A, Hassan I, Goffredo P, “Some is better than none: adjuvant chemotherapy in rectal cancer after pathologic complete response” (opens in new tab), Annals of Surgical Oncology, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 39-41, 2025.
- Ngo S, Hu TX, Zhu CY, Hughes EG, Mao YV, Yeh MW, Livhits MJ, Wu JX, “Utility of prophylactic central dissection in papillary thyroid carcinoma with clinically apparent lymph node metastases isolated to the lateral neck” (opens in new tab), Surgery, vol. 181, pp. 109160, 2025.
- Zhu CY, Zhou HX, Tseng CH, Fackelmayer OJ, Haigh PI, Adams AL, Yeh MW, “Long-term effects of primary hyperparathyroidism and parathyroidectomy on kidney function” (opens in new tab), Eur J Endocrinol, vol. 189, no. 1, pp. 115-122, 2023.
- Zhu CY, Hong JC, Kamdar NV, Hu MY, Tseng C, Lee JS, Kuo EJ, Yu R, Yeh MW, Livhits MJ, “Comparison of preoperative alpha-blockade for resection of paraganglioma and pheochromocytoma” (opens in new tab), Endocr Pract, vol. 28, no. 9, pp. 889-896, 2022.
- Livhits MJ, Zhu CY, Kuo EJ, Nguyen DT, Kim J, Tseng CH, Leung AM, Rao J, Levin M, Douek ML, Beckett KR, Cheung DS, Gofnung YA, Smooke-Praw S, Yeh MW, “Effectiveness of molecular testing techniques for diagnosis of indeterminate thyroid nodules: a randomized clinical trial” (opens in new tab), JAMA Oncol, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 70-77, 2021.
- Zhu CY, Donangelo I, Gupta D, Nguyen DT, Ochoa JE, Yeh MW, Livhits MJ, “Outcomes of indeterminate thyroid nodules managed nonoperatively after molecular testing” (opens in new tab), J Clin Endocrinol Metab, vol. 106, no. 3, pp. e1240-e1247, 2021.
- Zhu CY, Schumm MA, Hu TX, Nguyen DT, Kim J, Tseng CH, Lin AY, Yeh MW, Livhits MJ, Wu JX, “Patient-centered decision-making for postoperative narcotic-free endocrine surgery: a randomized clinical trial” (opens in new tab), JAMA Surg, vol. 156, no. 11, pp. e214287, 2021.
- Zhu CY, Sturgeon C, Yeh MW, “Diagnosis and management of primary hyperparathyroidism” (opens in new tab), JAMA, vol. 323, no. 12, pp. 1186-1187, 2020.
- Massoumi RL, Crain N, Zhu CY, Moore A, Oland GL, Ghukasyan R, Lu Y, Ye L, Hadaya JE, Dacey MJ, Schumm MA, Oh N, Mederos MA, Graham DS, Aboulian A, “Postoperative physician phone call as a method to decrease urgent care and emergency department returns after ambulatory general surgery” (opens in new tab), Am Surg, vol. 86, no. 10, pp. 1373-1378, 2020.
- Chin PD, Zhu CY, Sajed DP, Fishbein GA, Yeh MW, Leung AM, Livhits MJ, “Correlation of ThyroSeq results with surgical histopathology in cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules” (opens in new tab), Endocr Pathol, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 377-384, 2020.
- Wong CW, Schumm MA, Zhu CY, Tseng CH, Arasu A, Han J, Livhits MJ, “Quality of life following molecular marker testing for indeterminate thyroid nodules” (opens in new tab), Endocr Pract, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 960-966, 2020.
- Zhu CY, Sha S, Tseng CH, Yang SE, Orr LE, Levin M, Wong CW, Livhits MJ, Rao J, Yeh MW, “Trends in the surgical management of known or suspected differentiated thyroid cancer at a single institution, 2010-2018” (opens in new tab), Thyroid, vol. 30, no. 11, pp. 1639-1645, 2020.
- Zhu CY, Yeh MW, Livhits MJ, “Clinical validation of ThyroSeq V3 shows high sensitivity and specificity” (opens in new tab), Clinical Thyroidology, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 20-22, 2019.
- Zhu CY, Nguyen DT, Yeh MW, “Who benefits from treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism?”, Surg Clin North Am, vol. 99, no. 4, pp. 667-679, 2019.
- Shirali AS, Wu JX, Zhu CY, Ocampo A, Tseng CH, Du L, Livhits MJ, Leung AM, Yeh MW, “The role of serum procalcitonin in predicting bacterial sepsis in patients with hypothyroidism”, J Clin Endocrinol Metab, vol. 104, no. 12, pp. 5915-5922, 2019.
- Orr LE, Zhou H, Zhu CY, Haigh PI, Adams AL, Yeh MW, “Skeletal effects of combined medical and surgical management of primary hyperparathyroidism” (opens in new tab), Surgery, 2019.
- Tonione MA, Fisher R, Zhu CY, Moritz C, “Deep divergence and structure in the Tropical Oceanic Pacific: a multilocus phylogeography of a widespread gekkonid lizard (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gehyra oceanica)”, J Biogeogr, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 268-78, 2016.
- Zhu CY, Pryor A, “Innovations in bariatric surgery”, Surg Technol Int, vol. 27, pp. 129-35, 2015.
- Chaudhuri A, Wilson NS, Yang B, Paler Martinez A, Liu J, Zhu CY, Bricker N, Couto S, Modrusan Z, French D, Cupp J, Ashkenazi A, “Host genetic background impacts modulation of the TLR4 pathway by RON in tissue-associated macrophages”, Immunol Cell Biol, vol. 91, no. 7, pp. 451-60, 2013.
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Last updated on 10/28/2026.