John was born in Taiwan. After coming to the United States at an early age, he did his undergraduate studies at University of Southern California. He was the 11th graduate from USC to be ever accepted into the prestigious Yale medical school, where he earned his MD degree.



He became an anesthesiologist after training at UC Irvine. He was someone who always made people laugh; even the surgeons. Some may have seen him as cavalier and brash, but he was always an excellent resident who took great care of his patients. John was also well liked by his colleagues and support staff because of his easy-going personality. 



In the past 8 years he had administered countless number of anesthetics and helped thousands of patients. Also possibly saved many lives. His affiliated hospitals include Torrance Memorial hospital, Pacific Hospital, Kaiser Permanente Hospitals, Little Company of Mary. Since 2005, John was the chief of anesthesiology department at Shriner's hospital in Los Angeles, where disadvantaged children receive free surgeries from a team of caring orthopedic surgeons and anesthesiologists. Dr. Yang helped many children in difficult burn and orthopedic spine surgeries. 



John, in his brief life, was a very special person. In a lot of ways he was the anti-doctor. He was never uptight, never pretended to be righteous, and always told people how he felt. Everywhere he went he left an impression. He would charm people with over-the-top jokes, or ingenious and super politically-incorrect comments. But this comedian could become a dedicated doctor in an instant. He would provide an 8 hour anesthetic to a sick child, refusing to leave his post. John also never disappointed a freind when needed.



With Alice, he had 2 beautiful children, Sabrina and Andrew. In the last year of John's life he had been with Katty, who is a wonderful woman and they were actually planning on getting married.  He is also survived by his parents and sister Sandy. And many good friends who will miss him forever.