Recognition August 2018

KPWHRI welcomes Dr. Lu Chen to faculty

Epidemiologist Lu Chen, PhD, recently joined the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) faculty as an assistant investigator. Earlier, as a postdoctoral fellow at KPWHRI, she contributed to several large studies on improving medication safety, cancer survivorship, and maternal and child health.

The goal of Dr. Chen’s research is to give patients and clinicians better information about the benefits and risks of different treatments to help them make informed decisions. Among her areas of methodologic expertise is using administrative and electronic medical record (EMR) data from various sources for epidemiologic research. By analyzing these real-world data, Dr. Chen studies how common prescription medications affect the risk of adverse outcomes with cancer and pregnancy. 

Before joining KPWHRI, Dr. Chen completed her PhD in epidemiology at the University of Washington, where she worked with cancer epidemiologists to improve understanding of risk factors, survivorship, and health disparities related to breast cancer. Her master’s work at the University of Maryland focused on understanding cultural facilitators and barriers in cancer prevention and survivorship for Asian Americans.