 He was recognized as one of the highly promising young investigators in the translational research field of pulmonary vascular disease and right heart failure.In 1999, Yuan moved to the University of California, San Diego and became a Professor in 2003.His research interest was then extended to study pathogenic and therapeutic mechanisms of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, functional role of ion channels in stem cell proliferation and differentiation, and pharmacogenetics associated with idiopathic and associated pulmonary arterial hypertension.