Program Leadership

Dr. Lina Shao received both MD and PhD from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. She completed Clinical Cytogenetics fellowship at the Baylor College of Medicine in 2009 and Alternative Pathway to Laboratory Genetics and Genomics training at the University of Michigan in 2021. Dr. Shao joined faculty at the University of Michigan in December 2009 as a Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory. She was promoted to Director of Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory in January 2015 and Clinical Associate Professor in 2018. Dr. Shao is board certified in Clinical Cytogenetics and Laboratory Genetics & Genomics, and is a fellow of American College of Medical Genetics (FACMG). She is also an active member of American College of Medical Genetics, Association for Molecular Pathology and Cancer Cytogenomic Microarray Consortium. Dr. Lina Shao was appointed as the Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Program Director in August 2021.

Dr. Chen Yang received his M.D. at Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, followed by a master's degree in pathology at Peking Union Medical College. He subsequently finished his Ph.D. study at the University at Buffalo, focusing on eukaryotic basal transcription in 2010. He completed a postdoctoral cancer research fellowship in 2015 and the clinical Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) fellowship in 2020 at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Yang joined the University of Michigan Departments of Pathology and Pediatrics faculty in July 2020. He currently serves as the interim director of MMGL Molecular Genetics Lab, and the associate director of the Clinical Cytogenetics Lab. Dr. Yang is ABMGG certified in LGG and is a fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (FACMG). He has served as the LGG Associate Program Director since August 2021.

Aiko Otsubo, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Otsubo earned her Ph.D from Purdue University and completed her ABMGG Laboratory Genetics and Genomics (LGG) training at Indiana University. Her long-standing interests are focused on the impact of genomic variations on multiple biological contexts, including evolution, inheritance and human disease. During her postdoctoral time at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), she had great exposure to the clinical genetics field and grew a passion for genetic diagnosis and patient care. Dr. Otsubo has published on rare genetic variants and new genetic syndromes detected by chromosomal microarray and whole exome sequencing. She is currently involved in cytogenetic and molecular genetic testing at the UM. She is interested in further improving diagnostic tools for patients with hereditary and acquired disease by developing new tests with a variety of techniques.