Clark C Chen, MD, PhD

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Clark Chen, MD, PhD, is a board-certified neurosurgeon and a nationally recognized brain tumor specialist. With a special interest in oncology and the study of DNA repair and genetic alterations in brain tumors, his goal is to provide the best possible care to brain tumor patients while also developing new therapies to improve outcomes.Prior to joining UC San Diego Health in 2011, Dr. Chen led the brain tumor program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (affiliated with Harvard Medical School) and was an assistant professor of radiation oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. In a personal statement, Dr. Chen said, I have always rooted for the underdogs. At the movies, I cheered on the Cinderella Man in his journey to deliver that fabled final punch. I held my breath as the defiant Seabiscuit raced towards an improbable dream. To me, the patients afflicted with malignant glioma are not unlike the Cinderella Man or Seabiscuit. They are underdogs fighting against a menacing monster in the race toward an improbable dream of life after cancer. I became an oncologic neurosurgeon and a brain cancer researcher because I wanted to fight alongside these patients and help them to attain that dream."As an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine, Dr. Chen serves as vice chair of research in Division of Neurosurgery and is co-principal investigator of the Center for Theoretical and Applied Neuro-Oncology (CTAN), which studies novel strategies for brain and spine tumor therapy and biomarker development. He is the recipient of several highly competitive research awards, including the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award, the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Career Award in Medical Sciences, the Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award, the Doris Duke Foundation Clinical Scientist Award, and the Forbeck Scholar Award.Dr. Chen completed his neurosurgery training at Massachusetts General Hospital, including a fellowship in radiosurgery and a second fellowship on stereotactic neurosurgery. He earned his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard Medical School and an MS in epidemiology from Columbia University. He is board-certified in neurological surgery.UC San Diego Health LinksFor more information, see http://health.ucsd.edu/specialties/neuro/Pages/default.aspx and http://health.ucsd.edu/specialties/surgery/Pages/default.aspx.