Ming Hui Chen, MD, MMSc

Cardiovascular Disease and Genetics

Dr. Ming Hui Chen, a physician-researcher, has a Masters of Medical Science from Harvard Medical School in clinical investigation and drug development. One major focus of her clinical and translational research efforts is on the diagnosis and management of late cardiac effects in cancer survivors—attempting to understand treatment-related cardiac effects in childhood cancer survivors. As an expert in cardiac noninvasive imaging, Dr Chen’s approach is multidisciplinary, combining genetics, cardiology, and imaging to prevent and manage cardiovascular issues.

Another focus of Dr. Chen’s research in the role of genes that affect both brain development and also the heart. Twenty years ago, Dr Chen began investigating the genetics and clinical cardiovascular ramifications of periventricular nodular heterotopia (PVNH), as well as the filamin A (FLNA) mutation that has been implicated as a causal factor in thoracic aortic aneurysms in this multi-system disorder. With the Walsh lab, she has explored mechanisms of congenital heart disease in this population along with describing its clinical association with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. In 2013, to improve the lives of patients and families with PVNH and cardiovascular disease, she founded and directs the Cardiology Program of Brain Development in Genetics (C-BrDG). For further information about the clinic/program, please contact cbridge@childrens.harvard.edu.

Her work in the reverse translation of clinical diagnosis to breakthroughs (“Finding Clues in the Clinic: Reverse Translation”) in the laboratory is described in the Genetic Diagnosis section on this site’s Research page. Her research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI), and also the American Heart Association

More about Dr. Chen can be found at her group website.

< BACK TO DIRECTORY