Board Member
The California Endowment

Dr. Arthur Chen, former Board Chair of The California Endowment, has been a Board member since April 2003 and was elected as Chair of the Board of Directors in April 2006. He also previously served as Vice Chair of the Board from April 2004 until his election as Board Chair.

Dr. Chen recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of the Alameda Alliance for Health, a local initiative; Medi-Cal managed care public organization serving Alameda County. From 1996-2001, he was the Health Officer for Alameda County. Since 1983, he has practiced clinical medicine as a family physician at Asian Health Services in Oakland, where he also served as Medical Director and Special Programs Director. Prior to that, Dr. Chen served as an emergency room Physician/Instructor and the Associate Medical Director of the Institute of Emergency Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. He was also the Executive Director of the Chinatown Health Clinic in New York City.

Dr. Chen received the California Medical Association Foundation’s 2008 Robert Sparks Leadership Award. From 1998-2006, he chaired the Board of Directors of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, a national policy and advocacy organization whose mission is to improve the health status of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He was appointed to the Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists for the California Department of Consumer Affairs (2000-2004). From 1998 – 2002 Dr. Chen was on the National Association of County and City Health Officials MAPP (Mobilization for Action through Planning and Partnerships) Planning Committee. Additional appointments include Executive Council member of the Alameda Contra Costa County Medical Association (2003-present), Centers for Disease Control/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Task Force on Public Health Workforce Development (1999), Board Member and later Executive Committee Member of the California Conference of Local Health Officers (1997-2001), and Fellow to the Public Health Leadership Institute (1996-97). From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Kellogg National Fellowship Program and has since served as a Consultant to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He has also served on the Advisory and Planning Committees to the Bureau of Primary Health Care of the United States Public Health Service, the Office of Minority Health, the National Institutes of Health and the American Lung Association. He has also testified before Congress and President Clinton's Health Task Force.

Among his publications are: "Health is Strength," a research collaboration involving Korean Americans in Alameda County; “A Behavioral Risk Factor Survey on Korean Americans; Community-Sensitive Research, Information Management for the 90's; "Special Health Problems of Asians and Pacific Islanders;" "Behavioral Risk Factor Survey of Chinese in California;" "Cigarette Smoking Among Chinese, Vietnamese and Hispanics in California;" and "Conducting a Culturally-sensitive Health Survey in the Chinese Community."

Dr. Chen, a resident of Alameda, Calif., received his B.S. in Zoology from University of California, Davis, and also attended medical school at UC Davis. He completed his postgraduate training at the Residency Program in Social Medicine (Family Practice) at the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.