Dr. Chen received her B.S. degree in Horticulture from National Chung-Hsing University in Taiwan. She studied the effects of trace minerals molybdenum and copper in female rats and earned her Master’s degree in Food and Nutrition at Texas Tech University. She worked as a medical research technician in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center for two and a half years.

Her Ph.D. degree in Food and Nutrition at Texas Tech University focused on the effects of selenium compounds on ovarian cancer cells. She completed two years of postdoctoral research in the Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. She became a registered dietitian nutritionist in 2002.

Dr. Chen taught at Texas Tech University and University of Nevada Las Vegas before she joined the Lamar faculty in 2009. She is a full professor of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in the College of Education and Human Development at Lamar University.

Her research interests include plant-based diets, functional foods, complementary/alternative medicine (and nutrition therapies), diets and chronic disease prevention and micronutrient metabolism. She is married with twin daughters. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and reading.