Dr Herbert Chen M.D. FACS
Chair – Department of Surgery – University of Alabama at Birmingham, United States
Dr. Herbert Chen obtained his BS from Stanford University with Honors and with Distinction in 1988 and graduated from Duke University School of Medicine Alpha Omega Alpha in 1992. Dr. Chen then completed a general surgery residency followed by a surgical oncology and endocrinology fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Dr. Chen is Chair of the Department of Surgery at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and the Surgeon-in-Chief of UAB Hospital and Health System. He is a Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Biomedical Engineering, and holds the Fay Fletcher Kerner Endowed Chair. His clinical interests include endocrine surgery and he is a pioneer in radio-guided parathyroid surgery. Dr. Chen’s lab studies thyroid and neuroendocrine cancers and has been received over $18 million in extramural funding. He is the American Cancer Society MEN2 Thyroid Cancer Professor. Dr. Chen is the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Surgery. He has held several leadership positions in major academic societies including President of the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons Foundation, President of Association for Academic Surgery, President of the Society of Clinical Surgery, President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, and President of Surgical Biology Club II. Dr. Chen has mentored over 130 faculty, post-doctoral fellows, residents, medical students, and undergraduates in his lab. He has published over 635 original research and review articles and has edited 28 textbooks. He is well-known for his passion for teaching and mentoring the next generation of surgical leaders. Dr. Chen has also been recognized as a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dr. Chen and his wife Harriet, a freelance photographer, reside in Mountain Brook, AL. His son Alex is psychiatry resident at John Hopkins while his daughter Liz is a faculty member at NC State College of Design.
