She is board certified in colorectal surgery and general surgery. She attended medical school at Tufts University and then completed general surgery residency training at Brown University in Rhode Island. She then completed fellowship training in colorectal surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and at Cleveland Clinic Florida. She was an assistant professor of surgery at Washington University in St. Louis before being recruited to UCLA. She is a fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (FASCRS) and of the American College of Surgeons (FACS). Lin's clinical and research interests include surgical quality and inherited colorectal cancer syndromes.