Henry Chen , MD

Stanford University
Stanford, CA

2005 Palmaz Fellow
Henry A. Chen received a B.S. with Honors in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 1993. While an undergraduate, he worked on projects at the Stanford Molecular Research Institute, where he used a variety of lab techniques to investigate partial agonism of neurohormonal receptor binding. His work resulted in his undergraduate thesis and was published in a peer-reviewed journal. In 1998 he received his M.D. from Yale University. There, he wrote his Yale Medical Thesis on the effects of hemodynamic forces on vascular cells. In order to study these effects, he helped design, develop, and construct a computer-driven system, which was ultimately able to precisely apply pulsatile pressure to cultured living cells. He presented his work as a speaker in a physiology mini-symposium at a national meeting, the Federation of Science and Experimental Biology. It also resulted in a publication in another peer-reviewed journal. In addition, he worked with a group of colleagues at Yale to initiate, organize, and run a multi-disciplinary volunteer program to provide health care for homeless people in New Haven. This program continues to thrive today. After completing his residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, he went to Stanford University, where he is currently completing a fellowship in Cardiology. In addition to clinical training, he has performed research on implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, devices used to prevent sudden death from arrhythmias. He has presented his most recent work at both national and international scientific meetings and recently won a top award at the Scientific Sessions of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. He is interested in combining his clinical perspective, experience utilizing medical devices, scientific knowledge of the biological interface, and design principles to develop novel technologies to help optimize patient care.