Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program
MGH-BIDMC Harvard

Amy Yeung, MD

Amy Yeung, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Academic Interests
Dr. Amy Yeung’s research focuses on porphyria, with a major emphasis on erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), X-linked protoporphyria (XLP), light sensitivity, and cutaneous phototoxicity. Her work spans clinical trials, clinical and translational studies, and laboratory-based investigation.

Dr. Yeung leads and supports interventional clinical trials for EPP, XLP, and other porphyrias, including studies of emerging therapies and treatment outcomes. Her clinical and translational research focuses on improving how light sensitivity is measured and understood, using wearable light dosimetry, symptom diaries, patient-reported outcomes, and biochemical biomarkers.

At the MGH Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Dr. Yeung’s laboratory studies mechanisms of cutaneous phototoxicity and genetic and biological modifiers of protoporphyria. Her group uses genomic data, patient-derived samples, cellular models, and functional assays to understand why PPIX levels and the degree of light sensitivity vary among patients, even those with similar porphyria-causing variants. These studies aim to improve disease monitoring, support clinical trial design, and identify new therapeutic targets.

Her broader porphyria research also includes studies of diagnostic delay, quality of life, reproductive health, liver involvement, biomarkers, and disease burden across multiple types of porphyria. She co-directs the MGH Porphyria Center with Rebecca Karp Leaf, MD.

Awards and Recognition

  • Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Award

  • Canby Robinson Society Scholar, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

  • MIT IDEA2 Global Program Participant

  • NIH/NIDDK Porphyrias Consortium Satellite Site Director

  • Co-Director and Co-Founder, MGH Porphyria Center

  • Scientific Advisory Board and President’s Council, United Porphyrias Association

  • Member, International Porphyria Network Cutaneous Porphyria Working Group

 

A full list of Dr. Amy Dickey’s published work can be found on My Bibliography.

More information can be found on Dr. Amy Dickey's Harvard Catalyst Profile.

 

+Current Projects

  • Clinical trials of emerging therapies for EPP, XLP, and other porphyrias, including studies of treatment response, safety, tolerability, and clinical outcomes.
  • Development of quantitative approaches to measuring light sensitivity in protoporphyria, including wearable light dosimetry, symptom diaries, patient-reported outcomes, and biochemical biomarkers.
  • Studies of natural history, biomarkers, diagnostic delay, quality of life, reproductive health, liver involvement, and disease burden across multiple types of porphyria.
  • Laboratory studies of mechanisms of cutaneous phototoxicity in protoporphyria, using patient-derived samples, cellular models, and functional assays to identify pathways that modify phototoxicity and may represent therapeutic targets.
  • Studies of genetic modifiers of disease severity in protoporphyria, including modifiers of protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) accumulation and light sensitivity.