Yvonne Chen, PhD

Dr. Yvonne Chen is an Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also a faculty, by courtesy, in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Yvonne is the co-director of the Tumor Immunology program in the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA, and a member researcher of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Dr. Chen received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. She received postdoctoral training at the Seattle Children's Research Institute, and in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining UCLA in 2013, she was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows. The Chen Laboratory applies synthetic biology and biomolecular engineering techniques to the development of novel mammalian-cell systems for clinical use, and Dr. Chen led the first investigator-initiated clinical trial on CAR-T cell therapy at UCLA. The Chen Lab's work on engineering next-generation T-cell therapies for cancer has been recognized by the NIH Director's Early Independence Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Hellman Fellowship, the ACGT Young Investigator Award in Cell and Gene Therapy for Cancer, the Mark Foundation Emerging Leader Award, and the Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old STAR Award.