Pei Chen, MD
Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

Dr. Pei Chen is a Professor in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics and SFVA Division of General Internal Medicine. She is the Program Director for Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at UCSF.

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Dr. Chen joined the Division of Geriatrics at UCSF since 2015 and concurrently in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the San Francisco VA since 2021. She completed Internal Medicine Residency, Primary Care Track, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently completed a two-year geriatrics fellowship in the Clinician Educator Track, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, New York, where she also served as the Chief Fellow.

Clinical: She is dedicated to optimize aging and to provide person-centered care for community-dwelling older adults with complex medical conditions and geriatric syndromes, such as fall, frailty, delirium, dementia, etc. She cares for a diverse patient population and has expertise in coordination of care for her patients, including caring for patients who seek geriatric expertise from other states and abroad. Currently, she provides primary care to the veterans population in the San Francisco VA.

Education and Educational Research: Dr. Chen is the program director for the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship. She has special interests in finding ways to improve the care to older adults through medical and interprofessional education, quality improvement initiatives, and community education.

Her commitment to undergraduate medical education included direct teaching (e.g. coach in the School of Medical) of the fundamentals of clinical care, mentoring and coaching longitudinally, curriculum development of small group sessions as well as medical student course (e.g. Life Stages, a block that covers the lifespan)

Beyond medical education, she established an interprofessional learning community in UCSF Center for Geriatric Care where geriatrics fellows, pharmacy residents and students, social work interns, and law students work together to provide comprehensive care for community dwelling older adults. She is also a skilled preceptor supporting the clinical training of internal medicine residents and nurse practitioner students and residents.

Her passion in education extends to teaching geriatric concepts to community service providers (e.g. case managers, social workers), direct caregivers, and volunteers to improve the experiences of older adults as people age in place through her work in the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program and the Optimizing Aging Collaborative.

Research: Dr. Chen is part of the Dementia and Music Lab exploring the intersection of music and wellbeing of those living with dementia and their care partners.

Awards

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  • Outstanding Junior Clinician Educator of the Year Award, American Geriatrics Society, 2021
  • Academy of Medical Eduactors, UCSF, 2021
  • Excellence in Interprofessional Teaching Award, UCSF, 2020
  • Teacher of the Year Award, UCSF Division of Geriatrics, 2020
  • Geriatric Education Best Paper Award, American Geriatrics Society, 2018
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, 2017

Education & Training

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  • Teaching Scholars Program University of California 2020
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training University of California 2017
  • Fellowship Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Mount Sinai Hospital, Icahn School of Medicine 2015
  • Internship/Residency Department of Medicine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School 2013
  • M.D. College of Medicine University of Vermont 2010

Interests

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  • coordination of care
  • interprofessional education
  • Dementia
  • transition of care
  • community education
  • medical education
  • quality improvement
  • delirium

Websites

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Publications (11)

Top publication keywords:
Information DisseminationNursing HomesCost of IllnessHospital Information SystemsAlzheimer DiseaseStudents, MedicalOnline SystemsPalliative CareFrail ElderlyCaregiversTelephoneData CollectionDeliriumHealth Services for the AgedDementia

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