Li Min Chen, MD, PhD

Li Min Chen, MD, PhD, earned her medical degree and PhD from The Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an, China. She completed a Brown-Coxe Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Chen first joined Vanderbilt faculty in 2003. In 2021, she was promoted to Tenured Professor of Radiology.

Her current research centers on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying pain and touch, and the role of plasticity in mediating functional and behavioral recovery after spinal cord injury. Dr. Chen takes a multidisciplinary approach in her research. Her lab routinely uses functional MRI, advanced multiparametric MRI, electrical and focused ultrasound neuromodulation, in vivo electrophysiology, tract tracing histology, and behavioral assessments in animals. She is a member of the American Society for Neuroscience, International Association for the Study of Pain and Organization of Human Brian Mapping.