Eligible to Direct Dissertations
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Indiana University
PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison
MS, University of Wisconsin–Madison
MBBS, Tongji Medical College
Specialties and Expertise
Managing Chronic Conditions
Health Behavior Theory
Health Information Seeking / Screening
Intervention Development / Evaluation
Pain Management
Self-management
Women’s Health
Symptom Science
Managing Symptoms
Racial, Cultural, Ethnic Diversity
Tailored Interventions
Awards and Honors
Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, 2023
Indiana University Trustees' Teaching Award, 2023
Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science, Abstract of Distinction 2016 and 2022
Expertscape World Expert in Dysmenorrhea, 2021
New Investigator Award, Midwest Nursing Research Society, Women’s Health & Transitions in Childbearing Research Interest Group, 2021
New Investigator Award Midwest Nursing Research Society, Symptom Science Research Interest Group, 2021
Kroenke Award for Outstanding Scientific Presentation and Translational Impact, Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, 2019
International Association for the Study of Pain, North American Pain School Class of 2017
American Pain Society Young Investigator Travel Award, 2017
Biography
Dr. Chen’s program of research focuses on management of dysmenorrhea. Characterized by menstrual pain, dysmenorrhea is a prevalent pain condition among women of reproductive age that puts women at higher risk for developing other chronic pain conditions later in life. Dr. Chen’s goals for this program of research are to support dysmenorrhea management, improve women’s quality of life, and to some extent, reduce the risk for developing future pain conditions among affected women. Dr. Chen uses biobehavioral approaches and integrates quantitative, qualitative, and big data. Specifically, her team’s work on dysmenorrhea entails (1) developing and evaluating symptom measurement tools, (2) identifying and characterizing dysmenorrhea phenotypes, (3) describing health behaviors (including health service uses, information seeking, and use of self-management strategies), and (4) exploring potential complementary alternative treatment for dysmenorrhea. These studies build toward the development of precision-based, personalized interventions to support dysmenorrhea management.
Beyond her research on dysmenorrhea, Dr. Chen has been engaged in interdisciplinary collaboration and mentoring in the areas of pain management, symptom science, and women’s health. Her areas of methodological expertise include instrument development, advanced psychometrics, survey research, latent class analysis, and meta-analysis.
External Funding
2023-2028 (R01HD110994) "Vaginal Microbiome, Inflammatory Mediators, Metabolome, and Dysmenorrhea Symptom-based Phenotypes" (PI: Chen). NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Development
2018-2020. (KL2 TR002530) "Phenotypic Characterization of Dysmenorrhea" NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute KL2 Young Investigator Award in Clinical Translational Research
2016-2017. (T32 5T32NR007066-24). Postdoctoral Fellowship in Behavioral Research (PI: Rawl). National Institute of Nursing Research.