Winston Yan

Winston Yan, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist, genome engineer, and organization builder specializing in genetic medicine. Yan completed his undergraduate degree in physics magna cum laude at Harvard College, earned his MD from Harvard Medical School through the Health Sciences & Technology program, and received his PhD from Harvard University, conducting research at the Broad Institute with Feng Zhang on early CRISPR genome editing technology development.

During his doctoral work, Yan addressed challenges limiting the in vivo therapeutic applications of CRISPR-Cas nucleases. His research included developing smaller orthologs of Cas9 for improved packaging into viral vectors for gene therapy and building assays to enhance off-target detection, evaluating the genomic safety of CRISPR-Cas enzymes.

Yan is a co-founder and former director of clinical development at Arbor Biotechnologies, where he gained experience translating scientific discovery into clinical application by advancing Arbor's lead therapeutic program from discovery to patient dosing. He has been recognized as a Termeer Scholar, an honor supporting leaders advancing scientific innovation in new medicines and diagnostics.

Yan leads the Center for Therapeutic Genetics at the Broad Institute. The center was founded by leaders in genetic medicine and scientific collaborators, including David Liu, Cat Lutz, Timothy Yu, and Wendy Chung. As a physician-scientist and genome engineer, Yan focuses on using genetic medicines to treat patients with rare genetic diseases, particularly those lacking existing treatments. The Center for Therapeutic Genetics aims to advance genetic therapies for patient populations that are too rare or challenging for traditional commercial development.

Yan is also the founding president of the N=1 Collaborative, a consortium of physicians, scientists, patients, and drug developers dedicated to expanding access to genetic treatments worldwide through data sharing and collaboration. He is committed to advancing genetic medicines for ultra-rare and "N-of-few" genetic diseases underserved by traditional biopharma, through a nonprofit that serves as an independent hub for sharing best practices and collective learnings.

Yan has secured a contract valued at up to $34.5 million to fund the Pediatric Epilepsies and Rare CNS Gene Editing Platform, a collaboration among academic researchers, clinicians, patient advocates, and biotechnology companies developing gene-editing treatments for children with rare forms of epilepsy. He has spoken at forums including the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Concordia Annual Summit, sharing insights on equitable and scalable genetic medicine with policymakers, scientists, and the public.