UCSD Profiles

Dr. Ju Chen is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine at UCSD and holds the AHA Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research. He has been a faculty member at UCSD since 1998, previously serving as Assistant and Associate Professor before his promotion to full Professor in 2008. Dr. Chen earned his B.S. in Genetics from Wuhan University, followed by an M.S. from the Institute of Genetics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He received his Ph.D. in Medical and Molecular Genetics from the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Dr. Chen has received numerous honors recognizing his contributions to cardiovascular research, including the American Heart Association (AHA) BCVS Distinguished Achievement Award in 2019. He has held the AHA Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research since 2012. He serves as a Guest Editor for Circulation and as a Consulting Editor for The Journal of Clinical Investigation, and also sits on the editorial boards of several leading journals, including Circulation Research. He co-directs the Molecular Cardiology Program at UCSD and is a dedicated mentor, with more than two dozen former trainees currently holding academic faculty positions around the world.

The Chen Lab investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac and skeletal myopathies, as well as signaling pathways involved in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Utilizing genetically engineered mouse models and patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), Dr. Chen’s research integrates physiological, molecular, and cellular approaches to advance understanding of heart disease pathogenesis, with a concurrent effort to develop potential therapies for these conditions.