Meet our Chair

Chen Liu, MD, PhD, was named Chair of the Department of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine and Chief of Pathology at Yale New Haven Hospital on March 1, 2020. Dr. Liu is a well-recognized gastrointestinal and liver pathologist, providing expert consultations for physicians and patients.

Dr. Liu is focused on continuing to improve healthcare through innovative research, and educating the next generation of investigators and physicians, as well as further elevating the excellent reputation of the department nationally and internationally. He is also committed to alignment between the School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health with the goal of providing exceptional patient-centered care and capturing new opportunities in the changing health care landscape.

Dr. Liu joined Yale from New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Medical School at Rutgers University, where he was Professor and Chair of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine, as well as Chair of the Center for Dermatology. Prior to his appointment at Rutgers in 2015, Dr. Liu was Professor and Vice Chair of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Florida and also held an endowed chair in gastrointestinal and liver research.

During Dr. Liu’s tenure at Rutgers, he led the integration of pathology and dermatology programs. He also established the Immunology Division, the Center for Medical Microbiology, and the Center for the Studies of Stillbirth and Early Infant Death. Under Dr. Liu, the department acquired an additional nine hospital pathology diagnostic lab services, integrating them into the academic department; established productive collaborations with New Jersey state and local governments through management of their pathology and laboratory services; doubled the number of faculty; and significantly increased clinical revenue, NIH funding, and academic productivity.

Dr. Liu’s research, for which he has several patents and pending applications, focuses on the epigenetic drivers that cause liver cancer in a virally infected or alcohol exposed liver. This work has contributed to the understanding of liver cancer carcinogenesis and biomarker discovery for early diagnosis and therapeutic targets. He also is using immunotherapy to treat liver cancer, specifically engineering T cells and natural killer (NK) cells to boost their anti-cancer activity, which will soon be tested in a clinical trial. His research programs have been continuously funded by the NIH and other agencies and he has published more than 240 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

Dr. Liu obtained his medical degree and his postgraduate training in China and received his PhD in pathology from the University of Pennsylvania. He did his residency in anatomical and clinical pathology at Medical College of Pennsylvania, an oncological pathology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Hospital, and postdoctoral research training at Scripps Clinic.