Crystal J. Yeo, MB BChir, PhD, Receives 2026 AANEM Scientific Impact Award

A clinician-scientist whose work bridges the clinic, laboratory, and population-level data, Crystal J. Yeo, MB BChir, PhD, is one of this year's AANEM Scientific Impact Award recipients. She is recognized for advancing a more integrated and globally relevant understanding of NM disease. Across ALS, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), and broader translational efforts, her research focuses on one central goal: making complexity in NM disease more measurable and useful for patients.

Her path into the field began with a deep appreciation for clinical nuance and diagnostic precision. As she explains, "I was drawn to neuromuscular medicine because it asks you to pay close attention—to the history, the examination, and the person in front of you." That attention expanded into a fascination with diagnostic tools, including electrophysiology and NMUS. She says she was drawn to the diagnostic depth of the field and the way different modalities can be brought together with the right clinical context to better understand disease.

Yet it is the relationship with patients that has anchored her career. "Many of these conditions unfold over years, and you come to understand not just the disease, but the person and family living with it," she said. "That experience shapes the questions you ask in research; it makes them feel less abstract and more grounded in what actually matters to patients and families."

That patient-centered perspective has strongly influenced Dr. Yeo's scientific agenda. A core theme of her work has been addressing heterogeneity in NM disease—both within and across populations. She emphasizes that "much of our current understanding is derived from relatively narrow cohorts, and we often assume that models, biomarkers, and therapeutic insights apply universally, but that is not always the case."

To address this, her research has expanded beyond single-population frameworks. By incorporating diverse datasets, including Asian cohorts alongside Western populations, she has worked to ensure predictive models are robust and generalizable. "A key aim of our work has been to ensure that what we develop is valid across diverse populations," she said. "Not only to improve generalizability, but also to identify the most consistent and biologically meaningful signals."

This approach is evident in her ALS research, which moves beyond static prognostic models toward dynamic, longitudinal prediction. "Using routinely collected clinical and laboratory data, we developed models that allow prediction at any point in the disease course," she said. "This longitudinal approach better reflects clinical practice." These models were validated across clinical trial and clinic cohorts.

Her work on SMA complements this by exploring biological mechanisms underlying variability. Rather than viewing SMA narrowly, her research has identified systemic metabolic changes in patient-derived models, expanding the framework for understanding disease heterogeneity.

The impact of this work is already being felt. She highlights that the ALS model has shown "meaningful prognostic insights can be derived from data we already collect in routine care, and applied dynamically across the disease course." In SMA, she says the findings suggest "diseases we often view narrowly may have broader systemic biology," helping explain variability long observed in clinical practice. Together, these contributions are helping shift the field toward more integrated models of disease—where clinical observation, biological insight, and population diversity are connected.

Her engagement with AANEM has also shaped her trajectory. Being a plenary lecturer at the 2025 AANEM Annual Meeting, receiving the American Neuromuscular Foundation's Surinderjit Singh Young Lectureship Award, and now serving on the ANF Research Subcommittee to help evaluate research grant proposals reflects her commitment to giving back to the neuromuscular research community. "The Scientific Impact Award," she said, "feels like encouragement to continue building bridges between clinical care and research, and across different populations and approaches." It reinforces "the importance of staying grounded in questions that matter to patients."

Looking ahead, her work is focused on translation and scale. For ALS, the next step is prospective validation and integration into clinical workflows. She is also expanding global collaborations to ensure models are tested across diverse cohorts. In SMA, she continues investigating how systemic findings relate to long-term outcomes and emerging therapies.