Candidate for election at 2024 Annual Meeting: Steven L. Chen, MD, MBA

Elections will be held at the Annual Meeting of the House of Delegates on June 11, 2024.

Officers and seven councils are elected by the American Medical Association House of Delegates (HOD) at the Annual Meeting. The elections are conducted during a special election session under the supervision of the Committee on Rules and Credentials and the chief teller, who are appointed by the speakers. The speaker and vice speaker are responsible for overall administration of the elections. Voting is conducted by secret ballot.

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2024-2028

 

 

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Steve Chen, MD, MBA, is asking for your vote to re-elect him to the Council on Medical Service.

Over the past thirty years, Dr. Chen has built a deep knowledge of health economics and delivery. He started his academic career with a degree in economics, followed by a research fellowship in the Center for Health Care Economics while obtaining his MBA at the University of Michigan during his residency.

Clinically, Dr. Chen built an academic surgical oncology career with a research focus on health economics and quality measurement. He has mentored students and residents in the health services research while publishing widely and garnering peer-reviewed grants. His research spanned cost accounting to predicting the cost of surgical care preoperatively, to identifying clinical quality metrics, and to research identifying disparities in cancer outcomes based on social determinants of health.

Dr. Chen put this academic knowledge into practice as he served on the lead negotiating team for his resident’s union, putting his ability to parse the financial situation of the health system to their advantage. He also has served on several accreditation and quality metric setting bodies, such as the National Quality Forum, the AMA’s Physician’s Consortium for Practice Improvement, and the Society of Surgical Oncology’s training committee. 

Dr. Chen is known for his attention to detail when it comes to policy and legislation. He serves as the legislative chair of the American Society of Breast Surgeons and shepherded the organization’s first foray into lobbying when he was the president. Dr. Chen knows that when it comes to policy, words matter. He wields his academic expertise and practice experience to ensure that policies are balanced and that potential negative consequences are understood and considered before adoption. Dr. Chen brings together viewpoints and the diverse individuals who hold them to create collaborative and inclusive policies for our patients and the practice of medicine. Never satisfied with a seemingly good idea, Dr. Chen seeks to hear the contrary view, digest it, and adapt the policy to encompass as many possibilities upfront.

His years on the Council on Medical Service as a student, a resident, and now as a practicing physician have resulted in over 150 reports adopted by this house. Steve hopes to continue to serve this house with action-ready reports that reflect the needs and the will of our HOD and our AMA.

Dr. Chen grew up working in the back office of his father’s solo practice, going from ledger sheets to installing an early version of a computerized billing system. In medical school, he created a rudimentary EHR for a solo practice otolaryngologist in return for housing during interview season.

After a general surgery residency and critical care fellowship at the University of Michigan, he completed a surgical oncology fellowship at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California. At the start of his surgical career, Dr. Chen began in academic practice at UC Davis in surgical oncology, focusing on breast surgery, melanoma surgery, and endocrine diseases. He founded the melanoma/pigmented lesion tumor board and was the chief of breast surgery.

He then went on to the City of Hope National Medical Center where he was part of an employed multi-specialty group practice, while serving as an associate professor and an associate program director for the surgical oncology fellowship, which he transitioned into an ACGME-accredited program. Now, he practices as a solo private practice surgical oncologist in San Diego and Encinitas.

These experiences have given Dr. Chen an appreciation for the challenges and joys of various modes of practice. Dr. Chen has kept patients and their needs as his guiding light, whether it be a large academic organization or sharing office space amongst a cadre of small practices. He knows that patients depend on the ability of physicians to do the right thing, whether it is by preserving autonomy in employed practice, ensuring the independence of medical staff in the hospital, or allowing private physicians to garner contracts that pay enough for them to thrive.

Dr. Chen joined the AMA as a 1st year medical student, paying his own way to go to the Interim Meeting in 1994, sleeping on a classmate’s floor to save some money. He immediately realized that active members could make a difference nationally. He became his school’s delegate to the Medical Student Section (MSS) the following year and has not looked back. He has served on four different county medical society boards, served on the Michigan Delegation to the HOD, the California Delegation to the HOD, as the Young Physicians Section (YPS) national delegate, and now, after bringing the society into the HOD, as the delegate for the American Society of Breast Surgeons.

As a member of a small delegation, he has always looked for common causes and collaboration across the HOD, focusing on bringing together delegations across the House of Medicine. As the Surgical Caucus chair, he broadened the membership to be more inclusive of all specialties that may find an affinity with this space. During his time on the Specialty and Service Society (SSS) governing council, including as chair last year, he worked to increase the ability of all specialties to participate and be heard. Whether it was pushing for broader representation to the SSS governing council by adding YPS and RFS liaisons, planning dinners for SSS members, or creating Groupme groups to increase SSS communications, his mantra has been that organizations serve its members best when the members are more involved.

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• Visit the AMA elections page for information on other candidates running for office.
• Find up to date information for the June Annual Meeting of the HOD.