Dr. Yuman Fong is a graduate of Brown University (BA, Medieval Literature, 1981) and Cornell University Medical College (MD, 1984). After surgical training at the New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and surgical oncology fellowship at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he was appointed to the faculty of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. There he served on staff for over 20 years, and held the Murray F. Brennan Chair in Surgery. He is currently the Sangiacomo Chair and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the City of Hope Medical Center.

Dr. Fong is best known clinically for his extensive work in the field of liver and pancreatic surgery. His work helped establish hepatic resection of colorectal metastases as a safe, effective, and potentially curative option even at stage IV. He also helped in ushering in robotic techniques for HPB surgery. He is editor of the SAGES Atlas of Robotic Surgery. For his clinical work, he was awarded the Layton F. Rikkers Master Clinician Award from the SSAT.

He has assisted in the design and deployment of many novel surgical tools and gene manipulation tools. His work in medical engineering has led to his election to the American Institute of Medical and Biologic Engineering.