Dr. Lucia Chen, who hails from Atlanta, Georgia, plans to pursue a stroke fellowship following her final year of residency at Vanderbilt. The improvements in the available treatments for stroke victims, along with new research in the field, appeal to her appreciation for complex inpatient cases. Like many of us, Dr. Chen looks forward to post-COVID traveling, and in the meantime, you’ll find her exploring Nashville’s restaurant scene.
Tell us about your background. Where you did you grow up, and how did your path lead to Vanderbilt?
I grew up in Atlanta. I went to Georgia Tech for undergrad and studied biochemistry. Afterwards I attended the Medical College of Georgia. During medical school, one rotation during which I was always excited to go to work every morning was neurology. When I came to Vanderbilt [during residency interviews], the atmosphere and the collegiality drew me here. People got along and looked out for each other which is what I was looking for in a program.
What do like best about neurology?
I really like inpatient neurology, I think because every case is a little bit different. We see some of the same things, but each patient has their own story. It’s interesting to tease out the relevant details from a complex case. After residency, I’m going to start a fellowship in stroke training in Colorado (UC Denver). It will be interesting to see a different patient population than we mostly see here.
What have been some of the highlights of residency so far?
I’m a senior on general service right now, so I like being able to reflect on how much I’ve learned in the past few years, while also helping out the interns and juniors along the same path like the seniors did for me at that time.
What about the future of neurology is exciting to you?
Especially since I’m going into stroke, I’m excited that the interventional treatments for stroke have become much better and the technology is just getting better and better. Stroke used to be the kind of thing you didn’t get better from, but that’s not really true any more. The research behind stroke happening right now is also very interesting—studying how people recover from stroke, for instance.
What are some of your post-COVID plans?
Won’t that be a thing! I want to travel back to Colorado and see where I’ll be living after this year. I was planning to go to Greece at some point during residency. I was hoping to go to China to visit family, but the political situation is not great now, so I likely will not get to do that. It will just be good to travel again!
What was your favorite way to spend summer break when you were a kid? (Back when you had a “summer break”!)
I was one of those kids who didn’t do much doing the summer, I would just read or play outside.
How do you like to spend weekends when you aren’t working?
Recently I’ve been trying to go to new restaurants with my non-medical friends who live in Nashville. Etch in downtown is one of my favorites. We like to try different places, particularly some over in East Nashville, now that things are opening up more.
Do you have any hobbies? What kind of music, books, or podcasts are on your list?
I like to draw, casually. I’ve done that my whole life. As for media, I listen to this podcast called “Ology,” which interviews experts in different fields and gives you an inside look at different professions. It’s interesting to see what other people get into professionally, for example there’s a coral specialist, or someone who does marine archeology. I like to see what else is out there.
What would you be if you weren’t a neurologist?
For awhile I thought about doing aeronautical engineering. I’ve always been interested in space and space technology. So if I haven’t gone into medicine that’s probably what I would have gone for.
