[4] Yan was the regional winner of the Young Scientist Award in North America, which is co-sponsored by Science/AAAS and GE Healthcare, for her thesis on the structural and mechanistic study of programmed cell death.

[10] In 2017, Yan decided to leave Tsinghua and join Princeton University as the Shirley M. Tilghman Professor of Molecular Biology.

The move gained widespread attention in China and led to a national discussion both within the science community and the general public.

[12] However, Yan dismissed this claim later, and stated "changing one's environment can bring new pressure and inspiration for academic breakthroughs".

Yan was elected a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences in April 2019.