Skip to main content
Patrick M. Chen

Patrick M. Chen

•Assistant Professor HS Clinical, Step III, Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine
•Director, Neurology Traumatic Brain Injury & Concussion (NTBIC) Program, Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine

Biography

Patrick M. Chen, M.D., is Assistant Professor HS Clinical, Step III, Director of the Neurology Traumatic Brain Injury & Concussion (NTBIC) Program, and Associate Program Director of the Neurocritical Care Fellowship in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, Irvine. Chen received his M.D. from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and completed his neurology residency at the University of California, San Diego, where he served as Chief Resident, followed by a fellowship in neurocritical care at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. His clinical and research work focuses on traumatic brain injury, concussion, brain health, and multimodal neuromonitoring.

Chen founded the first academic neurology TBI and concussion program in Orange County at UCI in 2023, developing both inpatient consultation services and outpatient clinics with standardized protocols. He has established a clinical-research program that includes a prospective IRB database and student research stipends, and has created multilingual TBI patient resources in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean. Chen serves as neurology consultant for UCI Athletics and maintains an active clinical practice as an attending neurointensivist and neurohospitalist. He received the School of Medicine Outstanding Early-Career Faculty Research Award from UCI in 2025 and the Young Investigator Award from Western Neurotrauma in 2023.

Chen has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications, with 20 as first author, and has presented his work at national and international conferences. He serves on the editorial board of Frontiers in Neurology and reviews regularly for multiple journals, receiving the Top Reviewer Award from the Neurocritical Care Society in 2024 and the Reviewer Achievement Award from Neurology in 2022. Chen is an active member of the Advocacy & Policy Committee and Equity & Data Committee of the National Neurotrauma Society and the Communications Committee of the Neurocritical Care Society. He has mentored numerous undergraduate, medical, and doctoral students, as well as residents and fellows, and created the TBI Summer/Longitudinal Clinical Research Stipend program to provide integrated clinical and research training opportunities for medical students.

Return to top

Education

  • A.B. in Biology, Dartmouth College, 2016
  • M.D., Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, 2020
Return to top

Distinctions

  • Best of Fair in Medicine Category, Intel International Science Fair, 2007
  • Siemens Westinghouse Semi-Finalist, The Westinghouse Foundation, 2007
  • Reviewer Achievement Award, Neurology, 2022
  • UCI Physician Scientist Certificate Program, 2024
  • UCI Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) Scholar, 2024
  • Top Reviewer Award, Neurocritical Care Society, 2024
  • Edward L Kaplan New Venture Challenge, University of Chicago, 2019
  • Chief Resident, UCSD, 2019
  • Golden Neuron Award, Outstanding Teacher, UCSD, 2020
Return to top

Areas of Expertise

  • Neurocritical Care
  • Traumatic Brain Injury Prognostication
  • Multimodal Neuromonitoring
  • Cerebral Microdialysis
  • Cardiovascular Comorbidities Post-TBI
  • Social Determinants in Neurotrauma
  • Quantitative EEG Biomarkers

Recent Publications

  • Picton B, Andalib S, Spina A, Camp B, Solomon S, Liang J, Chen P, Chen J, Hsu F, Oh M, “Assessing AI Simplification of Medical Texts: Readability and Content Fidelity”, International Journal of Medical Informatics, 2025.
  • Lopez M., Fulton J., Kristinsson H., Kim S., Stuart E., Chen P., Thomas A., Hussey-Zommers M., Roy R., Kapoor A., Conrad A., “Development of the KeyStrokes test: An online neuropsychological assessment for attention, processing speed and executive function” (opens in new tab), Journal of Neuropsychology, vol. 00, pp. 1-17, 2025.
  • Kapoor A, Conrad AT, Lowry-Shephard S, Kristinsson H, Chen P, Lopez M, “Processing speed fully mediates the relationship between memory and Dot Counting Test”, 2025. Presented at International Neuropsychological Society (INS) 2025 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, February 2025.
  • Conrad AT, Kapoor A, Lowry-Shephard S, Kristinsson H, Chen P, Lopez M, “Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for a created forced choice trial of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised (HVLT-R) to measure engagement in a mixed clinical sample”, 2025. Presented at International Neuropsychological Society (INS) 2025 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, February 2025.
  • Tsutsumi K, Tong S, Jung B, Akbari Y, Stern-Nezer S, Dastur C, Yu W, Valesky W, Darwish S, Goodwin M, Chen J, Lekawa M, Grigorian A, Nahmias J, Qing K, Chen PM, “Predictive Value of Early Quantitative EEG Features in Critically Ill Moderate-severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Patient Prognostication”, 2025. Presented at 2025 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 2025.
  • Hanna S, Ramesh A, Joyner C, Akbari Y, Stern-Nezer S, Dastur C, Valesky W, Darwish S, Goodwin M, Yu W, Chen J, Grigorian A, Nahmias J, Chen PM, “Antipsychotic Practice Patterns and Clinical Outcomes in Moderate-Severe TBI”, 2025. Presented at 2025 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 2025.
  • Fang AS, Joyner C, Kapoor A, Conrad A, Sakayan M, Lopez M, Grigorian A, Burruss S, Izzy S, Nguyen D, Boden-Albala B, Chen PM, “Relationship Between Social Determinants of Health and Patient-reported General Self-efficacy Outcomes in Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic Patients”, 2025. Presented at 2025 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 2025.
  • Joyner C, Fang A, Kapoor A, Conrad A, Albala B, Nguyen D, Lopez M, Boden-Albala B, Chen PM, “Exploratory Analysis of Comprehensive Neurocognitive Testing in Post-traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Clinic Patients with Primary Cognitive Symptoms”, 2025. Presented at 2025 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 2025.
  • Sakayan M, Joyner C, Fang AS, Kapoor A, Conrad A, Lopez M, Grigorian A, Izzy S, Nguyen D, Boden-Albala B, Chen PM, “Brain Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Relationship Between Brain Care Score and Disability in Subacute-Long Term TBI”, 2025. Presented at 2025 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 2025.
  • Chen P, “Chapter 3: Neurotrauma”, Neuro ICU Board Review 2E, McGraw Hill, pp. 57-77, 2025.
  • Chen PM, Lee S, Cruz L, Lopez M, Thomas A, Chen J, Grigorian A, Nahmias J, Lekawa M, “iPad-Based Neurocognitive Testing (ImPACT-QT) in Acute Adult Mild Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion: Study on Practicality and Bedside Cognitive Scores in a Level 1 Trauma Center”, American Surgeon, 2024.
  • Kang J, Shah I, Shahrestani S, Chen PM, Lopez A, Chen JW, “Friedman's Gradient-Boosting Algorithm Predicts Lactate-Pyruvate Ratio Trends in Cases of Intracerebral Hemorrhages”, World Neurosurgery, 2024.
  • Shin J, Nahmias J, Chen P, Chen J, Lekawa M, Nguyen L, Grigorian A, “Identifying the Influence of Lung-Related Injuries and Other Factors on Delirium in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients: A National Analysis”, Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 2024.
  • Thomas A, Lopez M, Patel K, Grigorian A, Lee A, Boden-Albala B, Chen PM, “Cardiometabolic/Cardiovascular Health and Healthcare Access in Subacute-Chronic TBI Patients”, 2024. Presented at National Neurotrauma Meeting 2024, San Francisco, June 2024.
  • Kapoor A, Conrad A, Kristinsson H, Lopez M, Chen P, “Global cognition and executive function predict verbal practical judgment in a mixed clinical sample of older adults”, 2024. Presented at California Academic Geriatrics Institutions Inaugural Conference, Irvine, CA, May 2024.
  • Sakayan M, Joyner C, Fang A, Thomas A, Lopez M, Grigorian A, Izzy S, Boden-Albala B, Chen PM, “Relationship between Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), Clinical Phenotypes, and Disability in Subacute-Long Term TBI”, 2024. Presented at 2024 American Neurological Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, September 2024.
  • Chen PM, Tong S, Jung B, Akbari Y, Stern-Nezer S, Dastur C, Yu Wengui, Valesky W, Darwish S, Chen JW, Lekawa M, Grigorian A, Nahmias J, Qing K, “Early quantitative EEG (qEEG) features and outcomes in critically ill moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (msTBI)”, 2024. Presented at International Neurotrauma Society Meeting, Cambridge, UK, September 2024.
  • Chen P.M., Stekhoven S, Haider A, Jing J, Ge W, Rosenthal ES, Westover MB, Zafar S.F., “Association of Epileptiform Activity With Outcomes in Toxic-Metabolic encephalopathy”, Crit Care Exploration, vol. 5, no. 5, 2023.
  • Chen P.M., Shah I, Manning C, Lekawa M, Chen J, “Considerations for Intracranial Monitoring and Surgery in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury with Temporal Lobe Contusion”, Neurocritical Care, 2023.
Return to top

Contact Information

Email: patricc5@uci.edu

Phone: (714) 456-6808

Address: 200 S. Manchester, Suite 206, Orange, CA 92868

Return to top

This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 6/2/2026.