Yufei Zhang, MD

I have searched—from the East to the West—for something called “self.” Having graduated from medical school in China at the age of twenty-five, I crossed the Pacific Ocean to the United States, determined to become a biologist. After three years of graduate school studying breast cancer at Vanderbilt University, I found myself missing the human touch in medicine. I returned to medical school at the University of Tennessee to reconnect with my passion and better understand why I chose medicine twice. Besides medicine, I enjoy reading, writing, traveling, and collecting art. Several years ago, my penchant for writing led me to win an award for an original screenplay at the Angel Film Awards, an international festival for non-violent films. My teenage daughter keeps me busy with her extracurricular activities, and our Lhasa Apso, Lea, also finds Portland a sweet home where she can chase squirrels all day long.