Irene Yang-Velez

Biography

Irene Yang-Velez, M.D., RHMSUS, is a Staff Physician at the Tibor-Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach, California, and HS Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in 2009 through a combined six-year accelerated medical program. She completed her fellowship in Rheumatology at the University of California at Irvine in 2016 and holds active board certifications in both Rheumatology and Internal Medicine.

Yang-Velez serves as Associate Rheumatology Fellowship Program Director at UC Irvine, where she developed and serves as primary instructor for the Musculoskeletal Ultrasound curriculum for rheumatology fellows. Since 2016, nineteen fellows under her guidance have been accepted to USSONAR and received partial or full scholarships. She received her RHMSUS certification in 2024 and serves as an instructor at the Southern California Regional Society's Basic-Intermediate Ultrasound Conference, a mentor for the USSONAR Fundamentals Training Program, and a voting member on the ACR Guidance Paper on MSUS for Soft Tissue/Procedures.

Yang-Velez has contributed to research on hyperuricemia, gout, and migraine-related sensory phenomena. Her publications include work on the genetics of hyperuricemia and gout published in Nature Reviews Rheumatology and studies on phonophobia and cutaneous allodynia in migraine patients. At the VA, she maintains an active teaching role with residents and fellows in the arthritis clinic and runs a weekly diagnostic ultrasound and ultrasound-guided procedure clinic. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and proficient in medical Spanish.

Education

• M.D., Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, 2009
• B.S., Pennsylvania State University, 2007

Distinctions

• RHMSUS certification, 2024