A year later, Yeh Chin-chuan went to the United States to pursue a doctorate in public health at Harvard University. In 1982, before he had obtained his PhD, Hsu Tzu-chiu, his former professor and then minister of the Department of Health, lured him back to Taiwan to take on the post of vice director of the Bureau of Medical Affairs.
一年後，他遠赴美國哈佛大學攻讀公衛博士學位，一九八二年學位尚未取得，就被他的老師、當時的衛生署署長許子秋延攬回國，擔任醫政處副處長。