Biography of Yang (Judy) Gao
01/13/1957 – 08/23/2020
Yang (Judy) Gao was born on January 13, 1957 in a small coalmine town called Beipiao in northeast of China. She was raised by loving parents and received her early education in Beipiao. In 1977, Yang left home for Shanghai to study at the Shanghai Institute of Mechanical Engineering. She received a BS in Precision Instrumentation and a Master’s in electrical Optics Engineering.
In early 90s, after working a few years in Hangzhou Photographic Machinery Research Institute, Yang came to US to study at University of Houston-Clear Lake, School of Natural and Applied Sciences and received a Master degree in Applied Physics (Electro Optics).
In May 1994, Yang landed her first job in US as a test engineer at Sulzer Intermedics Inc., in Angleton, TX. Through hard work and perseverance, Yang obtained multiple certifications, which qualified her as a quality assurance engineer. During her 20+ years career, Yang worked her way up from a test engineer to Sr. Manager in the field of quality assurance and liability. Yang worked for some well-known companies within medical device industry such as St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and Johnson & Johnson. She played a very important role as a quality gatekeeper to ensure that the final product of a medical device was safe and in good quality before used in clinic for patients.
Yang had many interests outside her work. She was a big fan of Beijing Opera and was able to recite many classical Chinese poems by heart. She was well known to her friends for her appreciation of the Chinese literature as well as her beautiful Chinese writing style. She loved travel and helped to organize many class reunion events. In addition, she was good at Shanghai style cooking and enjoyed having parties and sharing good food with friends.
From very early on, Yang showed her passion and love toward people around her. She made many friends at different stages of her life and inspired and helped each of them in many different ways. She always remembered to send Christmas cards to her friends and their family each year. She tried to reconnect and had ongoing correspondences with many of her old friends until her passing.
In the summer of 2014, Yang was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. She actively involved in her treatment plan and followed up care. She survived cancer. However, during that period of time, she experienced some non-specific autonomic neuropathy symptoms that didn’t respond to medications. There was no definite diagnosis until early 2017 after she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. She had a primary care physician at Stanford Medical Center from whom she was referred to number of specialists in neurology and movement and sleep disorder clinics. She was finally given a diagnosis of multiple system atrophy, possible parkinsonian type (MSA-P). In August 2018, Yang made trip to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, for second opinion and her diagnosis was confirmed by the MSA specialist team there.
Yang accepted her diagnosis calmly but never gave up hope. She kept good spirit in every possible way. She didn’t stop working right away and even made a few trips with friends. She tried acupuncture and participated in clinical trials at Stanford Medical Center. She cooperated with physical and speech therapists and tried hard to do daily exercise. She also jointed the local MSA support group and followed the research development on brain chips from Neuralink team and hoped that it would be soon available to MSA patients. Sadly, Yang left us on August 23rd, 2020. She will be remembered for her kindness, intelligence, and generosity and missed by all her friends.