Biography Dr. Catherine L. Chen is a board-certified anesthesiologist and health services researcher with a primary research interest in optimizing the quality and value of care patients receive during the perioperative period. She holds an appointment as Associate Professor in the UCSF Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Care and at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. Her research program is focused on identifying and reducing low-value care, especially instances of perioperative healthcare overutilization that may not be of benefit and can cause potential harm to surgical patients. She employs large datasets, such as Medicare claims and the OptumLabs Data Warehouse, as well as interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaborations to conduct her research. Dr. Chen’s studies have highlighted the increased risk of delayed surgery and falls associated with the overuse of routine preoperative testing in cataract surgery patients as well as the unintended consequences of inappropriate opioid prescription, including opioid over-prescription at hospital discharge. Using quantitative and qualitative approaches, Dr. Chen’s current work aims to improve our understanding of anesthesia resource utilization during cataract surgery to better allocate anesthesia personnel to those cataract patients who may benefit most from having an anesthesiologist supervising their care intraoperatively. Other areas of interest include perioperative healthcare disparities, COVID-19’s impact on surgical care, and environmental sustainability in the operating room. Dr. Chen sits on the editorial boards of Anesthesia & Analgesia and the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia and holds national leadership positions representing key organizations including the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research and the Early Stage Anesthesiology Scholars. In her clinical work, Dr. Chen supervises and trains residents and medical students while providing operating room anesthesia and obstetric anesthesia to patients seeking medical care at UCSF’s Parnassus, Mission Bay, and Mount Zion campuses. When she’s not doing research or caring for patients, Dr. Chen enjoys making music, baking, gardening, and watching Kdramas with her husband and three daughters. Role Faculty Location UCSF at Mission Bay UCSF at Mount Zion UCSF at Parnassus Category Clinical Research Specialties Obstetric Anesthesia Education 2019 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of CaliforniaInternship/Residency, 08/2015 - Anesthesiology, University of California, San FranciscoM.D., 05/2010 - , Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineM.P.H., 05/2009 - , Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Publications Routine preoperative assessment for cataract surgery is a source of frustration for primary care providers. Ron D, Zegans M, Chen CL Does Propofol Improve Polyp Detection during Colonoscopy? The Promise and Peril of Clinical Registry Data. Colquhoun DA, Somsouk M, Chen CL An epidemic of cataract surgery in Korea: the effects of private health insurance on the National Health Insurance Service. Lee H, Hwang SH, Park CS, Chung SH, Chen CL, Lee JY, Lee JS Postoperative thrombotic events following major surgery in patients with a history of COVID-19: a retrospective cohort analysis of commercially insured beneficiaries in the USA. Lazzareschi DV, Luo Y, Fong N, Boscardin J, Legrand M, Chen CL Perioperative Risk Assessment and Avoiding Overuse of Anesthesia Care for Routine Cataract Surgery-Reply. Perumal D, Lee SJ, Chen CL Intraoperative Use of Albumin in Major Noncardiac Surgery: Incidence, Variability, and Association With Outcomes. Lazzareschi DV, Fong N, Mavrothalassitis O, Whitlock EL, Chen CL, Chiu C, Adelmann D, Bokoch MP, Chen LL, Liu KD, Pirracchio R, Mathis MR, Legrand M, MPOG Collaborators Contemporary anesthesia practice for cataract surgery: analysis of the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry. Phero A, Dutton RP, Chen CL, Whitlock EL Reducing Volatile Anesthetic Waste Using a Commercial Electronic Health Record Clinical Decision Support Tool to Lower Fresh Gas Flows. Olmos AV, Robinowitz D, Feiner JR, Chen CL, Gandhi S Anesthesia Care for Cataract Surgery in Medicare Beneficiaries. Perumal D, Dudley RA, Gan S, Boscardin WJ, Gill A, Gelb AW, Lee SJ, Chen CL Opioid prescribing practices at hospital discharge for surgical patients before and after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2016 opioid prescribing guideline. Langnas E, Bishara A, Croci R, Rodriguez-Monguio R, Wick EC, Chen CL, Guan Z Postoperative Respiratory Events in Surgical Patients Exposed to Opioid Analgesic Shortages Compared to Fully Matched Patients Non-exposed to Shortages. Rodriguez-Monguio R, Lun Z, Bongiovanni T, Chen CL, Seoane-Vazquez E The Triple Bottom Line and Stabilization Wedges: A Framework for Perioperative Sustainability. Choi BJJ, Chen CL Calling Out Aversive Racism in Academic Medicine. Chen CL, Gold GJ, Cannesson M, Lucero JM The association of multimodal analgesia and high-risk opioid discharge prescriptions in opioid-naive surgical patients. Langnas E, Rodriguez-Monguio R, Luo Y, Croci R, Dudley RA, Chen CL A Novel Metric for Developing Easy-to-Use and Accurate Clinical Prediction Models: The Time-cost Information Criterion. Lee SJ, Smith AK, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Covinsky KE, Gan S, Chen CL, Boscardin WJ We Asked the Experts: Breaking the Cycle of Attrition in Perioperative Academic Medicine. Chen CL, Lucero JM Language-Related Disparities in Pain Management in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit for Children Undergoing Laparoscopic Appendectomy. Dixit AA, Elser H, Chen CL, Ferschl M, Manuel SP Perioperative Prescribing Practices of Extended-Release Opioids in Noncancer Surgical Patients, 2015-2018. Rodriguez-Monguio R, Naveed M, Croci R, Gross K, Langnas E, Chen CL, Seoane-Vazquez E Preoperative Medical Testing and Falls in Medicare Beneficiaries Awaiting Cataract Surgery. Chen CL, McLeod SD, Lietman TM, Shen H, Boscardin WJ, Chang HP, Whooley MA, Gelb AW, Lee SJ, Dudley RA Association Between Physician Industry Payments and Cost of Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion in Medicare Beneficiaries. Liu C, Ahmed K, Chen CL, Dudley RA, Gonzales R, Orrico K, Yerneni K, Stienen MN, Veeravagu A, Desai A, Park J, Ratliff JK, Zygourakis CC Assessment of Unused Opioids Following Ambulatory Surgery. Dixit AA, Chen CL, Inglis-Arkell C, Manuel SP Assessment of Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing of Opioid Analgesics Requiring Prior Opioid Tolerance. Jeffery MM, Chaisson CE, Hane C, Rumanes L, Tucker J, Hang L, McCoy R, Chen CL, Bicket MC, Hooten WM, Larochelle M, Becker WC, Kornegay C, Racoosin JA, Sanghavi D Long-Term Trends in Postoperative Opioid Prescribing, 1994 to 2014. Chen CL, Jeffery MM, Krebs EE, Thiels CA, Schumacher MA, Schwartz AJ, Thombley R, Finlayson E, Rodriguez-Monguio R, Ward D, Dudley RA A Revised Estimate of Costs Associated With Routine Preoperative Testing in Medicare Cataract Patients With a Procedure-Specific Indicator. Chen CL, Clay TH, McLeod S, Chang HP, Gelb AW, Dudley RA Do Anesthetic Choices Signal Quality? Chen CL, Neuman MD Preoperative Testing in Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery. Chen CL, Gelb AW, Dudley RA Preoperative medical testing in Medicare patients undergoing cataract surgery. Chen CL, Lin GA, Bardach NS, Clay TH, Boscardin WJ, Gelb AW, Maze M, Gropper MA, Dudley RA The impact of obesity on breast surgery complications. Chen CL, Shore AD, Johns R, Clark JM, Manahan M, Makary MA In: Brunicardi FC, Andersen DK, Billiar TR, Dunn DL, Hunter JG, Pollock RE, eds. Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery. 9th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Chen CL, Shapiro ML, Angood PB, Makary MA. Patient Safety. General Surgery Review. 2nd ed. Washington DC: Ladner-Drysdale Makary MA, Chen CL, Meguid R, Al-Attar A, eds Liver disease in burn injury: evidence from a national sample of 31,338 adult patients. Price LA, Thombs B, Chen CL, Milner SM
