Kevin Showen Chen MD

Summary

• Dr. Chen completed his medical training at Duke University, Neurosurgical residency at Michigan Medicine, and additionally completed a fellowship in Stereotactic/Functional Neurosurgery at Stanford University. Clinically, he is interested in deep brain stimulation for movement disorders, as well as expanding indications in epilepsy and other neurologic/psychiatric diseases. He also has interests in treatments for chronic pain syndromes, including spinal cord stimulation and trigeminal neuralgia.
  
  Dr. Chen’s research interests focus on stem cells, and in particular induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). iPS cells can be generated by culturing tissue from patients (e.g., skin cells), and genetically “reprogramming” them to a stem cell state. These reprogrammed stem cells can then be used to create neurons in culture. Dr. Chen seeks to utilize these techniques to understand causes for neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and Alzheimer’s Disease. Eventually, these engineered patient-derived cells may also become treatments for these and other neurologic disorders.