Over the past 15 years, Chia-Ching Chen, M.A., M.S., Ed.D., CHES, has accomplished and demonstrated professional growth through teaching, research, scholarly activities, and services to the school and the community. She advocates for community-based health education and incorporates cross-cultural teaching and research with an eye towards applying it to public health issues for individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Chen has educated a variety of students across different disciplines and is an effective and approachable instructor who adapts to the learning styles of her students. As a behavioral scientist, she strives to identify strategies to advocate for a better quality of life through health promotion and disease prevention.  

Dr. Chen has served as journal editor and as a frequent federal grant reviewer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) Extramural Research Program Office (ERPO), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), and Office of Population Affairs (OPA). She has served as a technical and subject matter expert for Office of Population Affairs for a project that aims to systematically examine classroom context and primary messaging strategies that can be better aligned for improved precision of delivery for teen pregnancy prevention programs in group-based settings.

Education

• B.A., Economics, Chinese Culture University
• M.S., Health Behavior Studies, Columbia University
• M.A., Health Education, Columbia University
• Ed.D., Health Behavior Studies, Columbia University

Honors and Awards

• Delta Omega Faculty Award for Outstanding Public Health Performance in Scholarship, Teaching, Research, and the Quality of Publications, New York Medical College Delta Alpha Chapter of Delta Omega, Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, 2021
• Honorable mention for the APHA A&PH Nobuo Maeda International Research Award, 2016

Research

Most of Dr. Chen’s research is conducted through an interdisciplinary collaboration. Many of her publications focus on improving accessibility to healthcare services, eliminating health disparities, and identifying psychosocial determinants associated with individual level outcomes among different socioeconomics groups. 

Another focus of research that Dr. Chen finds intriguing is teen pregnancy prevention, which continues to affect youth of color disproportionately, especially those who reside in low income and under-resourced communities. She has conducted several community-based intervention studies to identify effective ways to educate youth to achieve optimal adolescent health. Dr. Chen applies the rain-the-trainer approach to train graduate students to deliver evidenced-based health education curricula to at-risk adolescents in diverse communities that are federally funded research. 

Publications

• Yang LC, Li TJ, Hu YF, et. al. "Heat-inactivated Lactobacillus casei strain GKC1 Mitigates osteoporosis development in vivo via enhanced osteogenesis." Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 748(), (2025) 151317. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2025.151317
• Peng R, Liu X, Chen CC, et. al. "Development of PROTACs targeting estrogen receptor: an emerging technique for combating endocrine resistance." RSC medicinal chemistry, (), (2024) . doi: 10.1039/d4md00961d
• Liu SH, Chen CC, Chao HC, et. al. "Annual cholangitis more than twice predicts liver transplant in biliary atresia patients who achieve jaundice-free after Kasai portoenterostomy." Journal of the Formosan Medical Association = Taiwan yi zhi, (), (2025) . pii: S0929-6646(25)00006-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2025.01.006
• Sun WZ, Chen CC, Lin JG, et. al. "When sng meets acupuncture -- a paradigm-shift biomarker for translational research." Journal of traditional and complementary medicine, 15(1), (2024) 1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcme.2024.07.008
• Chen JL, Cheng JH, Wu CY, et. al. "Developing competency-based medical education for dental education in Taiwan: A pilot study of tooth extraction entrustable professional activities." Journal of dental sciences, 19(Suppl 2), (2024) S128-S135. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2024.09.032
• Chen PJ, Chen CC, Chang SC, et. al. "Outcomes of upfront primary tumor resection in patients with synchronous RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer." American journal of cancer research, 14(12), (2024) 5863-5873. doi: 10.62347/DLWI1455
• Chang CY, Chen CC, Tsai ML, et. al. "Predicting Mortality and Hospitalization in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction by Using Machine Learning." JACC. Asia, 4(12), (2024) 956-968. doi: 10.1016/j.jacasi.2024.09.003

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Teaching Responsibilities

• Behavioral and Social Factors in Public Health
• Principles and Technique of Behavior Change
• Introduction to Health Education
• Health Communication and Social Marketing
• Health Promotion Strategies