Catherine Chen, MD

Title(s)Associate Professor, Anesthesia
SchoolSchool of Medicine
Address490 Illinois Street, #72Q
San Francisco CA 94158
Phone415-476-0683
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    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse Education and Training
    Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public HealthM.P.H.05/2009
    Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineM.D.05/2010
    University of California, San FranciscoInternship/Residency08/2015Anesthesiology
    University of California, San Francisco, CA2019Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training
    Collapse Awards and Honors
    Phillip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF2023Exceptional Service to IHPS Award (Mentoring)

    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse Overview
    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.

    Collapse Research 
    Collapse Research Activities and Funding
    Feasibility pilot study assessing oral versus intravenous sedation alternatives to monitored anesthesia care for cataract surgery
    UCSF Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Care Patricia Sander AwardJul 1, 2023 - Jun 30, 2025
    Role: PI
    Frailty and Monitored Anesthesia Care for Cataract Surgery in Older Adults
    NIH K23AG072035May 1, 2021 - Apr 30, 2026
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Cost-effectiveness of Monitored Anesthesia Care in Cataract Surgery
    Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center Pilot and Exploratory Studies AwardJun 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021
    Role: Research Scholar
    Unintended Consequences of Routine Preoperative Testing in Cataract Surgery Patients
    Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) Mentored Research Training GrantJan 1, 2017 - Dec 31, 2018
    Role: PI
    Unnecessary Preoperative Testing in Medicare Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery
    Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) Research Fellowship GrantJul 1, 2013 - Sep 30, 2015
    Role: PI

    Collapse ORNG Applications 
    Collapse Clinical Trials
    Collapse Collaboration Interests

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    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse Publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Researchers can login to make corrections and additions, or contact us for help. to make corrections and additions.
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    Altmetrics Details PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Routine preoperative assessment for cataract surgery is a source of frustration for primary care providers. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Sep 17; 24(1):1087. Ron D, Zegans M, Chen CL. PMID: 39289628; PMCID: PMC11409469.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    2. Does Propofol Improve Polyp Detection during Colonoscopy? The Promise and Peril of Clinical Registry Data. Anesthesiology. 2024 Jun 01; 140(6):1062-1064. Colquhoun DA, Somsouk M, Chen CL. PMID: 38629962; PMCID: PMC11104318.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    3. An epidemic of cataract surgery in Korea: the effects of private health insurance on the National Health Insurance Service. Epidemiol Health. 2024; 46:e2024015. Lee H, Hwang SH, Park CS, Chung SH, Chen CL, Lee JY, Lee JS. PMID: 38228088; PMCID: PMC11099570.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    4. 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. Can J Anaesth. 2024 01; 71(1):55-65. Lazzareschi DV, Luo Y, Fong N, Boscardin J, Legrand M, Chen CL. PMID: 38102451; PMCID: PMC10858061.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    5. Perioperative Risk Assessment and Avoiding Overuse of Anesthesia Care for Routine Cataract Surgery-Reply. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 05 01; 183(5):497-498. Perumal D, Lee SJ, Chen CL. PMID: 36939671.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    6. Intraoperative Use of Albumin in Major Noncardiac Surgery: Incidence, Variability, and Association With Outcomes. Ann Surg. 2023 10 01; 278(4):e745-e753. 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. PMID: 36521076; PMCID: PMC10481928.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    7. Contemporary anesthesia practice for cataract surgery: analysis of the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2022 12 01; 48(12):1472-1474. Phero A, Dutton RP, Chen CL, Whitlock EL. PMID: 36449677; PMCID: PMC10108848.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    8. Reducing Volatile Anesthetic Waste Using a Commercial Electronic Health Record Clinical Decision Support Tool to Lower Fresh Gas Flows. Anesth Analg. 2023 02 01; 136(2):327-337. Olmos AV, Robinowitz D, Feiner JR, Chen CL, Gandhi S. PMID: 36638512; PMCID: PMC9846579.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    
    9. Anesthesia Care for Cataract Surgery in Medicare Beneficiaries. JAMA Intern Med. 2022 Oct 03. Perumal D, Dudley RA, Gan S, Boscardin WJ, Gill A, Gelb AW, Lee SJ, Chen CL. PMID: 36190717; PMCID: PMC9531089.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    
    10. Opioid prescribing practices at hospital discharge for surgical patients before and after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2016 opioid prescribing guideline. BMC Anesthesiol. 2022 05 11; 22(1):141. Langnas E, Bishara A, Croci R, Rodriguez-Monguio R, Wick EC, Chen CL, Guan Z. PMID: 35546657; PMCID: PMC9097447.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    11. Postoperative Respiratory Events in Surgical Patients Exposed to Opioid Analgesic Shortages Compared to Fully Matched Patients Non-exposed to Shortages. Drug Saf. 2022 04; 45(4):359-367. Rodriguez-Monguio R, Lun Z, Bongiovanni T, Chen CL, Seoane-Vazquez E. PMID: 35298825.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    12. The Triple Bottom Line and Stabilization Wedges: A Framework for Perioperative Sustainability. Anesth Analg. 2022 03 01; 134(3):475-485. Choi BJJ, Chen CL. PMID: 35180164; PMCID: PMC9556165.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    13. Calling Out Aversive Racism in Academic Medicine. N Engl J Med. 2021 Dec 30; 385(27):2499-2501. Chen CL, Gold GJ, Cannesson M, Lucero JM. PMID: 34951752; PMCID: PMC11014457.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 9     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    14. The association of multimodal analgesia and high-risk opioid discharge prescriptions in opioid-naive surgical patients. Perioper Med (Lond). 2021 Dec 15; 10(1):60. Langnas E, Rodriguez-Monguio R, Luo Y, Croci R, Dudley RA, Chen CL. PMID: 34906217; PMCID: PMC8672612.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1  
    15. A Novel Metric for Developing Easy-to-Use and Accurate Clinical Prediction Models: The Time-cost Information Criterion. Med Care. 2021 05 01; 59(5):418-424. Lee SJ, Smith AK, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Covinsky KE, Gan S, Chen CL, Boscardin WJ. PMID: 33528231; PMCID: PMC8026517.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 2     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    16. We Asked the Experts: Breaking the Cycle of Attrition in Perioperative Academic Medicine. World J Surg. 2021 01; 45(1):53-56. Chen CL, Lucero JM. PMID: 32591844.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    
    17. Language-Related Disparities in Pain Management in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit for Children Undergoing Laparoscopic Appendectomy. Children (Basel). 2020 Oct 04; 7(10). Dixit AA, Elser H, Chen CL, Ferschl M, Manuel SP. PMID: 33020409; PMCID: PMC7600632.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10  
    18. Perioperative Prescribing Practices of Extended-Release Opioids in Noncancer Surgical Patients, 2015-2018. Anesth Analg. 2020 10; 131(4):1249-1259. Rodriguez-Monguio R, Naveed M, Croci R, Gross K, Langnas E, Chen CL, Seoane-Vazquez E. PMID: 32925346.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    19. Preoperative Medical Testing and Falls in Medicare Beneficiaries Awaiting Cataract Surgery. Ophthalmology. 2021 02; 128(2):208-215. Chen CL, McLeod SD, Lietman TM, Shen H, Boscardin WJ, Chang HP, Whooley MA, Gelb AW, Lee SJ, Dudley RA. PMID: 32926912; PMCID: PMC8443237.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    20. Association Between Physician Industry Payments and Cost of Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion in Medicare Beneficiaries. World Neurosurg. 2020 11; 143:e574-e580. 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. PMID: 32791230.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    21. Assessment of Unused Opioids Following Ambulatory Surgery. Am Surg. 2020 Jun; 86(6):652-658. Dixit AA, Chen CL, Inglis-Arkell C, Manuel SP. PMID: 32683977.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    22. Assessment of Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing of Opioid Analgesics Requiring Prior Opioid Tolerance. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 04 01; 3(4):e202875. 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. PMID: 32293684; PMCID: PMC7160686.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    23. Long-Term Trends in Postoperative Opioid Prescribing, 1994 to 2014. J Am Acad Orthop Surg Glob Res Rev. 2020 01; 4(1). Chen CL, Jeffery MM, Krebs EE, Thiels CA, Schumacher MA, Schwartz AJ, Thombley R, Finlayson E, Rodriguez-Monguio R, Ward D, Dudley RA. PMID: 32159068; PMCID: PMC7028788.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 4     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    24. Do Anesthetic Choices Signal Quality? Anesthesiology. 2018 03; 128(3):429-430. Chen CL, Neuman MD. PMID: 29324481.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    25. A Revised Estimate of Costs Associated With Routine Preoperative Testing in Medicare Cataract Patients With a Procedure-Specific Indicator. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2018 03 01; 136(3):231-238. Chen CL, Clay TH, McLeod S, Chang HP, Gelb AW, Dudley RA. PMID: 29346472; PMCID: PMC5885904.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 12     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    26. Preoperative Testing in Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery. N Engl J Med. 2015 07 16; 373(3):285-6. Chen CL, Gelb AW, Dudley RA. PMID: 26176394.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    27. Preoperative medical testing in Medicare patients undergoing cataract surgery. N Engl J Med. 2015 Apr 16; 372(16):1530-8. Chen CL, Lin GA, Bardach NS, Clay TH, Boscardin WJ, Gelb AW, Maze M, Gropper MA, Dudley RA. PMID: 25875258; PMCID: PMC5536179.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 38     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    28. The impact of obesity on breast surgery complications. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2011 Nov; 128(5):395e-402e. Chen CL, Shore AD, Johns R, Clark JM, Manahan M, Makary MA. PMID: 21666541.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 45     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    29. 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. 2009. Chen CL, Shapiro ML, Angood PB, Makary MA. Patient Safety.
    30. General Surgery Review. 2nd ed. Washington DC: Ladner-Drysdale. 2008. Makary MA, Chen CL, Meguid R, Al-Attar A, eds.
    31. Liver disease in burn injury: evidence from a national sample of 31,338 adult patients. J Burns Wounds. 2007 Jun 12; 7:e1. Price LA, Thombs B, Chen CL, Milner SM. PMID: 17625613; PMCID: PMC1892842.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 16  
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