MY BACKGROUND
© C Y A Chen 2006 Tibet
I graduated from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine and went on to complete a year of Psychiatry Internship at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco before finishing my Internal Medicine training at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, CA in 2008. Afterwards, I went on to pursue a clinical fellowship in Neurological Surgery at UC Davis, which gave me insight into the nature of back pain and the surgical consequences of treating back pain. I am board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Addiction Medicine.
After working in both Primary Care and Hospitalist settings in Santa Cruz, CA, I joined the research team at Addiction and Pharmacology Research Laboratory (California Pacific Medical Center) founded by Drs. Mendelson and Galloway, where I was a research physician conducting studies primarily in methamphetamine, cocaine, and MDMA pharmacology, while working part-time in geriatrics as a house call doctor with Bay Area House Call Physicians. I’ve had the privilege of working within the Kaiser CDRP system, the Sequoia Recovery Center (when helmed by the late Barry Rosen, MD) as well as working at a methadone clinic in Santa Cruz.
Since 2015, I have been clinical faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine in the Division of Primary Care and Population Health, currently appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor and Medical Director of the Primary Care Chemical Dependency Clinics. My practice in the academic setting integrates chemical dependency and addictions services within Primary Care, supervising learners from undergraduates to Fellows. I have also trained medical scribes who have gone on to medical school.
I have been involved in healthcare advocacy and physician wellbeing through the American College of Physicians (ACP) as the current ACP Governor of the Northern CA Chapter and before as the Past President of the C6 Chapter (2016-2018). In August of 2021, an assembly bill (AB541) I co-authored, mandating smoking cessation treatment in substance use disordered treatment facilities, was signed by Governor Newsom. I serve as the Editor of the California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) Newsletter (since 2012) and has been on the planning committees of CSAM State of the Art and Board Review Conferences since 2012, recently serving as Chair of the Board Review Course. I am also Chair of CSAM's Communications Committee serving on the CSAM Board in that capacity. For almost a decade I served as a CMA Specialty Delegate having been Delegation Treasurer advocating for improving addiction treatment and promoting physician well-being.
I have co-authored peer reviewed publications on physician suicide and written on physician substance use disorders and is passionate about helping physicians recover and reintegrate into practice as well as advocating to change laws and licensing processes that stigmatize physicians who suffer mental health and substance use disorders.
My passion for treating those with substance use disorders began more than 30 years ago when I was a drug rehab volunteer at a New York City hospital while an undergraduate film student at New York University in the late 1980's. Since then, throughout my medical school training and in various practices, I have devoted special attention to the ever-present population of patients who struggle with substance use disorder issues. I continue to be inspired by the transformative process of recovery.
I came into medical training by way of Tibetan Buddhism, motivated to be properly trained as a healthcare provider while living and volunteering at a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1994-95. While there, I realized that so much of illness is affected by our mental and spiritual condition—our fortitude and constitution—I believe that through mindfulness and spiritually open living, we can overcome much of the turmoil that comes with illness. We may not eradicate our disease and pain completely, but we can change our attitude and relationship to it—this is especially true with addictions.
Born in Japan to Taiwanese parents, I was raised in the New York City area. I speak fluent Mandarin, and enjoy Buddhist studies, surfing, yoga, reading, writing, violin playing and time with my family.
After working in both Primary Care and Hospitalist settings in Santa Cruz, CA, I joined the research team at Addiction and Pharmacology Research Laboratory (California Pacific Medical Center) founded by Drs. Mendelson and Galloway, where I was a research physician conducting studies primarily in methamphetamine, cocaine, and MDMA pharmacology, while working part-time in geriatrics as a house call doctor with Bay Area House Call Physicians. I’ve had the privilege of working within the Kaiser CDRP system, the Sequoia Recovery Center (when helmed by the late Barry Rosen, MD) as well as working at a methadone clinic in Santa Cruz.
Since 2015, I have been clinical faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine in the Division of Primary Care and Population Health, currently appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor and Medical Director of the Primary Care Chemical Dependency Clinics. My practice in the academic setting integrates chemical dependency and addictions services within Primary Care, supervising learners from undergraduates to Fellows. I have also trained medical scribes who have gone on to medical school.
I have been involved in healthcare advocacy and physician wellbeing through the American College of Physicians (ACP) as the current ACP Governor of the Northern CA Chapter and before as the Past President of the C6 Chapter (2016-2018). In August of 2021, an assembly bill (AB541) I co-authored, mandating smoking cessation treatment in substance use disordered treatment facilities, was signed by Governor Newsom. I serve as the Editor of the California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) Newsletter (since 2012) and has been on the planning committees of CSAM State of the Art and Board Review Conferences since 2012, recently serving as Chair of the Board Review Course. I am also Chair of CSAM's Communications Committee serving on the CSAM Board in that capacity. For almost a decade I served as a CMA Specialty Delegate having been Delegation Treasurer advocating for improving addiction treatment and promoting physician well-being.
I have co-authored peer reviewed publications on physician suicide and written on physician substance use disorders and is passionate about helping physicians recover and reintegrate into practice as well as advocating to change laws and licensing processes that stigmatize physicians who suffer mental health and substance use disorders.
My passion for treating those with substance use disorders began more than 30 years ago when I was a drug rehab volunteer at a New York City hospital while an undergraduate film student at New York University in the late 1980's. Since then, throughout my medical school training and in various practices, I have devoted special attention to the ever-present population of patients who struggle with substance use disorder issues. I continue to be inspired by the transformative process of recovery.
I came into medical training by way of Tibetan Buddhism, motivated to be properly trained as a healthcare provider while living and volunteering at a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1994-95. While there, I realized that so much of illness is affected by our mental and spiritual condition—our fortitude and constitution—I believe that through mindfulness and spiritually open living, we can overcome much of the turmoil that comes with illness. We may not eradicate our disease and pain completely, but we can change our attitude and relationship to it—this is especially true with addictions.
Born in Japan to Taiwanese parents, I was raised in the New York City area. I speak fluent Mandarin, and enjoy Buddhist studies, surfing, yoga, reading, writing, violin playing and time with my family.
Copyright © Chwen-Yuen Angie Chen, MD 2013-2023. All Rights Reserved.