Born in Israel, Yosef Yarden received his B.Sc. in Biological and Geological Sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1980), and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science (1985). His postdoctoral training was undertaken at Genentech, Inc. (c/o Axel Ullrich) in San Francisco, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (c/o Robert A. Weinberg). In November 1988, he returned to the Weizmann Institute of Science as an Assistant Professor and was appointed Associate Professor in 1992, and Full Professor in 1996. His past administrative responsibilities at the Weizmann Institute include Dean of the Faculty of Biology (1997-1999), Vice-President for Academic Affairs (1999-2001), Director of the M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer Research (1999-2001), and Dean of the Feinberg Graduate School (2001-2007). On the national level, Prof. Yarden served as Chair of the Research Committee of the Israel Cancer Association, and the Israel National Committee on Biotechnology, an advisory body of the Government of the State of Israel. In from January 2011 till December 2013 he served as President of the Federations of Israel Societies of Experimental Biology (FISEB/ILANIT).

Yarden’s research concentrates on the roles played by growth factors in cancer progression. Although they are driven by many different mutations, all tumors must collaborate with their tissue environment and evade the immune system of the host. To a large extent, these functions are fulfilled by growth factors, small molecules that are secreted by the tumors or their immediate tissue neighbors. Blocking this collaboration, using antibodies or small molecules called kinase inhibitors, is becoming a major new way to treat cancer patients. Yarden’s studies are resolving the mechanisms underlying the action of the EGF family of growth factors, their receptors of the EGFR and HER2 family, as well as novel strategies able to block the support these growth factors confer to human tumors.

Among Yarden's honors and awards are the John F. Kennedy Award (1984), The Chaim Weizmann and the Irvington House Institute Fellowships (1985 and 1986), the Alon Fellowship of the Israel Council for High Education (1988), the H. Dudley Wright Research Award (1990), a Research Career Development Award from ICRF (1990), the Shlomo Hestrin Prize of the Israel Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1991), the Somech Sachs Prize in Chemistry (1992), the Sergio Lombroso Prize in Cancer Research (1994), the Andre Lewoff Prize (1995), the Michael Bruno Memorial Award of Yad Hanadiv (Rothschild Family Prizes; 2000), the TEVA Founders Prize (2004), the MERIT Award of the U.S. National Cancer Institute (2005), the EMET Prize in Biochemistry (2007), the 2008 Hamilton Fairly Award of the European Societies for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the Gold Medal of the Israeli Societies for Clinical Oncology and Radiation Oncology (ISCORT; 2010), the Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Award of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (2011), the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Basic Research (2012) and Leoplod Griffuel Award of Fondation ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (2015). In 2007, Yarden was elected member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network (A-IMBN). At the Weizmann Institute, Prof. Yarden is the Harold and Zelda Goldenberg Professor of Molecular Cell Biology. Over the years, Yarden's research has been supported by the US National Cancer Institute (a MERIT Award), a grant from the European Research Council (ERC-AdG), the German Research Foundation (DIP) and a professorship from the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF