You Chen, PhD, FAMIA

Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Informatics
2525 West End Avenue
Nashville
Tennessee
37203
Phone

You Chen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He directs the Optimization of Health Processes and Networks Laboratory (OHPENLab), which develops graph-based machine learning and artificial intelligence methods to enhance healthcare systems, improve patient care quality, and strengthen patient safety.

Dr. Chen is recognized for his contributions to electronic health records (EHR), audit log analysis, drug and device safety event monitoring, and genetic data (biobank) analytics. His specific areas of expertise include healthcare process and care team modeling, care transitions and coordination, drug-drug interactions, drug repurposing and safety, and healthcare disparity and equity. His research has received grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance methodologies that optimize healthcare systems and address drug efficacy and safety challenges.

Dr. Chen holds a doctoral degree in Computer Science from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since completing his Ph.D., he has been continuously active in biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt. He has published over 100 scholarly articles, serving as the first or senior author on more than 75% of these works (Google Scholar). Dr. Chen is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers at the early stages of their careers.

 

Research Information

Selected publications

  1.  Chen, Y; Lehmann, C; Malin, B (2024-12-02). "Digital Information Ecosystems in Modern Care Coordination: Challenges and Opportunities for AI Solutions". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 26: e60258. doi:10.2196/60258. PMC 11650087. PMID 39622048.

  2. Chen, Y; Lorenzi, N; Sandberg, W; Wolgast, K; Malin, B (2017). "Identifying collaborative care teams through electronic medical record utilization patterns". Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 24 (e1): e111 – e120. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocw124. PMC 6080725. PMID 27570217.

  3. Chen, Y; Patel, M; McNaughton, C; Malin, B (2018). "Interaction patterns of trauma providers are associated with length of stay". Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 25 (7): 790–799. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocy009. PMC 6016682. PMID 29481625.

  4. Mannering, H; Yan, C; Gong, Y; Alrifai, MW; France, D; Chen, Y (2021-10-20). "Assessing Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Structures and Outcomes Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Network Analysis Study". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23 (10): e27261. doi:10.2196/27261. PMC 8530253. PMID 34637393.

  5. Jeong, E; Su, Y; Li, L; Chen, Y (2024-11-25). "Discovering Severe Adverse Reactions from Pharmacokinetic Drug-Drug Interactions through Literature Analysis and Electronic Health Record Verification". Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. doi:10.1002/cpt.3500. PMID 39585167.

  6. Jeong, E; Su, Y; Li, L; Chen, Y (2024-05-01). "Discovering clinical drug-drug interactions with known pharmacokinetics mechanisms using spontaneous reporting systems and electronic health records". Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 153: 104639. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2024.104639. PMID 38583580.

  7. Jeong, E; Mogos, MF; Chen, Y (2024-06-01). "Association of Migraine Treatments with Reduced Ischemic Stroke Risk: Evidence from Two Large-Scale Real-World Data Analyses". medRxiv: 2024.06.11.24308801. doi:10.1101/2024.06.11.24308801. PMC 11213090. PMID 38946982. Accepted by Headache. 2025. 

  8. Chen, Y; Clayton, EW; Novak, LL; Anders, S; Malin, B (2023-02-28). "Human-Centered Design to Address Biases in Artificial Intelligence". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 25: e43251. doi:10.2196/43251. PMC 10132017. PMID 36961506.

  9. Yan, C; Zhang, X; Yang, Y; Kang, K; Were, MC; Embí, P; Patel, MB; Malin, BA; Kho, AN; Chen, Y (2023-10-02). "Differences in health professionals' engagement with electronic health records based on inpatient race and ethnicity". JAMA Network Open. 6 (10): e2336383. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.36383. PMC 10562942. PMID 37812421.

  10. Zhang, X; Yan, C; Malin, B; Patel, M; Chen, Y (2021). "Predicting next day discharges through access logs of electronic health records". Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 28 (12): 2670–2680. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocab211. PMC 8633668. PMID 34592753.

  11. Chen, Y; Feng, Y; Zhang, X; Gifford, KA; Elmanzalawi, Y; Samuels, J; Albaugh, VL; English, WJ; Flynn, CR; Yu, D; Zhang, R (2025-03-01). "Bariatric Surgery Is Associated With Reduced Incidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias: A Retrospective Cohort Study". Annals of Surgery Open. 6 (1): e541. doi:10.1097/AS9.0000000000000541.

  12. Yan, C; Gao, C; Zhang, Z; Chen, W; Malin, B; Ely, EW; Patel, M; Chen, Y (2021). "Predicting brain function status changes in critically ill patients via Machine learning". Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 28 (11): 2412–2422. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocab166. PMC 8510304. PMID 34402496.