Lucy Chen MD

Pain Medicine

Associate Professor of Harvard Medical School, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

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55 Fruit StreetCln 3Boston, MA 02114
Phone+1 617-726-8810
Fax+1 617-726-3632

Summary

Dr. Lucy Chen is an anesthesiologist based in Boston, MA, with a subspecialty in Pain Medicine. She completed her fellowship in Pain Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and her residency in Anesthesiology at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. She has been an attending physician and associate anesthetist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School since 2000. Her expertise includes complementary and integrative medicine, chronic pain management, and spine interventional procedures. Dr. Chen has authored several publications on topics like sacroiliac joint pain interventions and the impact of gut microbiota on neuropathic pain. She has also been involved in clinical trials examining the effects of acupuncture and medications on pain relief.

Education & Training

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterFellowship, Pain Medicine, 1999 - 2000
Virginia Commonwealth University Health SystemResidency, Anesthesiology, 1995 - 1999
Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical ScienceClass of 1982

Certifications & Licensure

MA State Medical License 1999 - 2026
VA State Medical License 1999 - 2006
American Board of Anesthesiology Pain Medicine

Clinical Trials

Evaluating the Effect of Acupuncture on Pain Relief Using Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) Start of enrollment: 2010 Jan 01
Completed
Not Applicable
Effect of Acupuncture and Pain Medication on Radicular Pain Using QST Start of enrollment: 2012 Dec 01
Completed
Not Applicable
Effect of Guanfacine on Opioid-induced Hyperalgesia (OIH) and Tolerance Start of enrollment: 2013 Nov 01
Active, not recruiting
Phase 4

Publications & Presentations

PubMed

Deficiency of intestinal alkaline phosphatase affects behavior and microglia activity in mice.
Jiajia Dai, Jinsheng Yang, Sen Han, Na Li, Shiyu Wang
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 2025-05-01
The Design and Rationale of the Biomarkers for Evaluating Spine Treatments (BEST) Trial: A Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial.
Matthew C Mauck, Kelly S Barth, Kevin M Bell, Amber K Brooks, Andrea L Chadwick
Pain Medicine. 2025-04-09
Microtubule-modulating drugs alter sensitivity to isoflurane in mice.
Na Li, Zerong You, Yang Ren, Hyung Hwan Kim, Jinsheng Yang
BMC Anesthesiology. 2025-02-28

Journal Articles

A randomized trial to assess the immediate impact of acupuncture on quantitative sensory testing, pain, and functional status.
52. Chen L, Deng H, Houle T, Zhang Y, Ahmed S, Zhang V, Sullivan S, Opalaze A, Roth S, Falacova J, St Clair K, Vo T, Malarick C, Kim H, You Z, Shen S, Mao J, Pain. 2019 Nov;160(11):2456-2463, 11/2019
Persistent Nociception Facilitates the Extinction of Morphine-induced Conditioned Place Preference
51. You Z, Ding W, Doheny JT, Yang J, Yang L, Lim G, Miao J, Chen L, Shen S, Mao J., Anesth Analg 2019 Sep;129(3):890-895., 9/2019
Methylphenidate and Morphine Combination Therapy in a Rat Model of Chronic Pain
49. You Z, Ding W, Doheny JT, Shen S, Yang J, Yang L, Chen L, Zhu S, Mao J, Anesth Analg. 2019 Jun 12. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000004273, 6/12/2019
Alleviation of trigeminal neuropathic pain by electroacupuncture: the role of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel protein expression in the Gas...
50. Yang L, Ding W, You Z, Yang J, Shen S, Doheny JT, Chen L, Li R, Mao J., Acupunct Med. 2019 Jun;37(3):192-198. doi: 10.1177/0964528419841614. Epub 2019 Apr 12., 6/8/2019
Analgesic Effects Evoked by Real and Imagined Acupuncture: A Neuroimaging Study
Randy Gollub, Lucy Chen, Jian Kong, Cerebral Cortex
Gut microbiota is critical for the induction of chemotherapy-induced pain.
37. Shen S, Lim G, You Z, Ding W, Huang P, Ran C, Doheny J, Caravan P, Tate S, Hu K, Kim H, McCabe M, Huang B, Xie Z, Kwon D, Chen L, Mao J, Nature Neurosci. 2017 Jul 17. doi: 10.1038/nn.4606., 7/17/2017
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Press Mentions

Medical School Applicants Reach Highest Number Ever as Students Step up to Strained Medical FieldFebruary 21st, 2022

Grant Support

Effect of Combined Morphine and Duloxetine on Chronic PainNIH2017–2020
Effect of Guanfacine on Opioid-induced Hyperalgesia (OIH) and ToleranceNIH2013–2018
Evaluating the Effect of Acupuncture on Pain Relief Using QSTNIH2009–2015
Pain Responses in Patients on Long-Term Opioid Therapy for Chronic PainNIH2006–2011

Committees

Member, AUA Scientific Advisory Board 2016 - Present
Co-chair, APS SIG 2015 - Present
member, ASA Committee for Abstract Review on Chronic pain 2013 - 2015

Research History

clinical investigatorConduct clinical research on chronic pain, opioid treatment and complementary integrative medicine2006 - Present
research associate at NIH NHLBIperform bench study1987 - 1988