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Portrait of Clara Chen
Clara Chen, MD

Acting Chief, Nuclear Medicine Section


Radiology and Imaging Sciences


AB, Princeton University
MD, Cornell University Medical College


Email: cchen@cc.nih.gov
Phone:301-496-5675

Portrait of Clara Chen
Clara Chen, MD

Acting Chief, Nuclear Medicine Section


Radiology and Imaging Sciences


AB, Princeton University
MD, Cornell University Medical College


Email: cchen@cc.nih.gov
Phone:301-496-5675


Dr. Clara Chen is the acting chief of the Nuclear Medicine Section of Radiology and Imaging Sciences.


Dr. Chen completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton University, graduating in 1978. She earned her Doctorate in Medicine from Cornell University Medical College in 1982. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota in 1985 and a Nuclear Medicine residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York in 1989. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nuclear Medicine.

Dr. Chen has been a Staff Nuclear Medicine physician in the Clinical Center Nuclear Medicine Department since 1989. She became the Section Chief of the Clinical Studies Section in 1998.

Dr. Chen’s main clinical research activities have recently been in functional imaging of neuroendocrine tumors and oncology.

Ingo Janssen, Clara C. Chen, David Taieb, Nicholas J. Patronas, Corina M. Millo, Karen T. Adams, Joan Nambuba, Peter Herscovitch, Samira M. Sadowski, Antonio T. Fojo, Inga Buchmann, Electron Kebebew, and Karel Pacak (2016) [68Ga]-DOTATATE PET/CT in the localization of head and neck paragangliomas compared to other functional imaging modalities and CT/MRI. J Nucl Med 2016 Feb;57(2):186-91. 2015 Nov 12 [Epub ahead of print]

Ingo Janssen, Paraskevi Xekouki, Joan Nambuba, Clara C. Chen, Peter Herscovitch, Corina M. Millo, David S. Schrump, and Karel Pacak. (2016). Rapidly growing chest wall mass in a case of sporadic metastatic paraganglioma: imaging with 4 different PET radiopharmaceuticals . Clin. Nucl. Med. May 41(5): 399 – 400.

Ravi A. Madan, Fatima H. Karzai, Yang-Min Ning, Bamidele A. Adesunloye, Xuan Huang, Nancy Harold, Anna Couvillon, Guinevere Chun, Lisa Cordes, Tristan Sissung, Shaunna L. Beedie, Nancy A. Dawson, Marc R. Theoret, David G. McLeod, Inger Rosner, Jane B. Trepel, Min-Jung Lee, Yusuke Tomita, Sunmin Lee, Clara C. Chen, Seth M. Steinberg, Philip M. Arlen, James L. Gulley, William D. Figg, William L. Dahut. (2016). Phase II Trial of Docetaxel, Bevacizumab, Lenalidomide, and Prednisone in Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. British Journal of Urology International. 2016 Oct, 118 (4):590-7. Epub 2016 Feb 19.

Carrasquillo JA, Pandit-Taskar N, Chen CC. (2016). I-131 Metaiodobenzylguanidine Therapy of Pheochromocyoma and Paraganglioma. Seminars of Nuclear Medicine May 46(3):203-14.

Diala El-Maouche, Samira M Sadowski, Gogio Z Papadakis, Lori Guthrie, Candice C Cottle Delisle, Roxanne Merkel, Corina Millo, Clara C. Chen, Electron Kebebew, Micheal T Collins. (2016). 68Ga-DOTATATE for Tumor Localization in Tumor-Induced Osteomalacia. JCEM 2016 Oct. 101(10):3575-3581, Epub 2016 Aug 17.

Christopher R. Heery, Ravi A. Madan, Mark Stein, Walter M. Stadler, Robert S DiPaola, Myrna Rauckhorst, Seth M. Steinberg, Jennifer L. Marté, Clara C Chen, Italia Grenga, Renee N. Donahue, Caroline Jochems, William L Dahut, Jeffrey Schlom, and James L. Gulley (2016) Samarium-153-EDTMP (Quadramet) With or Without Vaccine in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: A Randomized Phase 2 trial. Oncotarget Oncotarget Oct 18;7(42) 69014-69023. Jul 28 Epub

Roland Därr, Joan Nambuba, Jaydira Del Rivero, Ingo Janssen, Maria Merino, Milena Todorovic, Bela Balint, Ivana Jochmanova, Joseph T. Prchal, Ronald M. Lechan, Arthur S. Tischler, Vera Popovic, Dragana Miljic, Karen T. Adams, F. Ryan Prall, Alexander Ling, Meredith R. Golomb, Michael Ferguson, Naris Nilubol, Clara C. Chen, Emily Chew, David Taieb, Constantine A. Stratakis, Tito Fojo, Chunzhang Yang, Electron Kebebew, Zhengping Zhuang, Karel Pacak (2016). Novel insights into the polycythemia-paraganglioma-somatostatinoma syndrome. Endocrine Related Cancer 23:12 899-908.

Hughes MS, Azoury SC, Assadipour Y, Straughan DM, Trivedi AN, Lim RM, Joy G, Voellinger MT, Tang DM, Venkatesan AM, Chen CC, Louie A, Quezado MM, Forbes J, Wank SA (2016). Prospective evaluation and treatment of familial carcinoid small intestine neuroendocrine tumors (SI-NETs). Surgery. 2016 Jan;159(1):350-6. doi:0.1016/j.surg.2015.05.041. Epub 2015 Oct 9.

Janssen I, Chen CC, Millo CM, Ling A, Taieb D, Lin FI, Adams KT, Wolf KI, Herscovitch P, Fojo AT, Buchmann I, Kebebew E, Pacak K. (2016) PET/CT comparing (68)Ga-DOTATATE and other radiopharmaceuticals and in comparison with CT/MRI for the localization of sporadic metastatic pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. Sep;43(10):1784-91. doi: 10.1007/s00259-016-3357-x. Epub 2016 Mar 21.

Ingo Janssen, Clara C. Chen, Zhenping Zhuang, Corina M. Millo, Katherine I. Wolf, Alexander Ling, Frank I. Lin, Karen T. Adams, Peter Herscovitch, Richard A. Feelders, Antonio T. Fojo, David Taieb, Electron Kebebew, and Karel Pacak (2017). Functional imaging signature of atients presenting with polycythemia/paraganglioma syndromes. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, published on March 23, 2017 as doi:10.2967/jnumed.116.187690.

Sri Harsha Tella, Hayet Amalou, Bradford J Wood, Richard Chang, Clara C. Chen, Cemre Robinson, Michelle Millwood, Guthrie Lori, Elliot Levy, Venkatesh Krishnasamy, Rachel I. Gafni and Michael T. Collins (2017). Multimodality Image- Guided Cryoablation for Inoperable Tumor-Induced Osteomalacia. J Bone Miner Res. 2017 Jul 18. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.3219. [Epub ahead of print]

David Taïeb, Abhishek Jha, Carole Guerin, Ying Pang, Karen T. Adams, Clara C. Chen, Pauline Romanet, Philippe Roche, Wassim Essamet, Alexander Ling, Martha M Quezado, Frédéric Castinetti, Fréderic Seba, Karel Pacak (2018) 18F-FDOPA PET/CT imaging of MAX-related pheochromocytoma. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2018 Apr 1;103(4):1574-1582. doi: 10.1210/jc.2017-02324.

Christopher Melani, M.D.1*, Ranjana Advani, M.D.2*, Mark Roschewski, M.D.1, Kelsey M. Walters, B.S.2, Clara C. Chen, M.D.3, Lucia Barrato, M.D.4, M. A. Ahlman, Milos D Miljkovic Seth M. Steinberg, Ph.D.5, Margaret Shovlin, R.N.1, Kieron Dunleavy, M.D.1, Stefania Pittaluga, M.D.6, Elaine S. Jaffe, M.D.6, and Wyndham H. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. (2018) End-of-treatment and serial PET imaging in primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma following dose-adjusted EPOCH-R: a paradigm shift in clinical decision making. Haematologica. 2018 Aug;103(8):1337-1344. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2018.192492. Epub 2018 May 10.

Jason A Berglund1, Rachel I Gafni1, Felasfa Wodajo2, Edward W Cowen3, Diala El-Maouche1, Richard Chang4, Clara C Chen4, Lori C Guthrie1, Alfredo A Molinolo5, Michael T Collins (2018) Tumor-induced Osteomalacia in Association with PTEN-Negative Cowden Syndrome. Osteoporos Int. 2018 Apr;29(4):993-997. doi: 10.1007/s00198-017-4372-x. Epub 2018 Jan 29.

Book Chapters and invited articles:

Chen,CC (1996): Parathyroid scintigraphy. In: Nuclear Medicine: Diagnosis and Treatment. (Eds: Harbert,JC; Eckelman,WC; Neumann,RD), Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., NY, 429-438.

Chen,CC (1996): The biliary system. In: Nuclear Medicine: Diagnosis and Treatment. (Eds: Harbert,JC; Eckelman,WC; Neumann,RD), Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., NY, 685-706.

Neumann,RD; Carrasquillo,JA; Weiner,RE; Chen,CC; Andrich,MP (1996): Nuclear medicine tests for oncology patients. In: Nuclear Medicine: Diagnosis and Treatment. (Eds: Harbert,JC; Eckelman,WC; Neumann,RD), Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., NY, 909-928.

Neumann,RD; Carrasquillo,JA; Weiner,RE; Falen,SW; Kemp,JD; Chen,CC (1997): Radionuclide Imaging. In: The Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas. 2nd ed. (Ed: Magrath,I), Oxford University Press, New York.

Avila, N; Chen, CC; Chu, SC; Moss, J (1999): Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: Imaging features and pathology. In: LAM and Other Diseases Characterized by Smooth Muscle Proliferation. (Ed: Moss, J), Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York vol 131, 155-167.

Ferrand, SK; Chen, CC; Dilsizian, V; Neumann, RD (1999): What is new in Nuclear Medicine imaging? In: Surgical Oncology Clinics of North America: Contemporary Imaging in Surgical Oncology. 8(1), 185-204.

Carrasquillo, JA and Chen, CC (2012): I-131 MIBG Therapy. In: Nuclear Oncology: Pathophysiology and Clinical Applications. (Ed: Strauss, HW; Manani, G; Volteranni, D; and Larson, SM), Springer, NY 2012.

Carrasquillo, JA and Chen, CC (2016 revision): Neuroendocrine Tumors: Therapy with 131I-MIBG. In: Nuclear Oncology: From Pathophysiology to Clinical Applications. (Ed: Strauss, HW; Manani, G; Volteranni, D; and Larson, SM), Springer International Publishing, Switzerland.


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This page last updated on 03/07/2022

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