Dr. Arthur Chen

Dr. Arthur Chen recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of the Alameda Alliance for Health, a Local Initiative, Medi-Cal Managed Care non-profit public entity serving over 90,000 low income residents of 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 (a community health center) in Oakland, California where he also served as Medical Director and Special Programs Director.  Prior to that, he served as an emergency room physician and the Associate Medical Director of the Institute of Emergency Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY. He was also the Executive Director of the Chinatown Health Clinic in New York City.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of The California Endowment, a health foundation focused on improving health status and access to care for California’s medically underserved population.  He recently completed a two year term with The California Endowment as Board Chair.  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. From 2001-2003 he was appointed to the Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists for the CA Dept of Consumer Affairs.  Between 1997-2001 he served on the National Association of County and City Health Officials MAPP (Mobilization for Action through Planning and Partnerships) planning committee (formerly APEXCPH: Assessment and Planning Excellence through Community Partners for Health. From 1999-2001 and 2004 to present, he serves as an Executive Council member of the Alameda Contra Costa County Medical Association.  In 1999 he served on the CDC/ATSDR Task Force on Public Health Workforce Development. From 1997-2001 he served as a Board Member and later an Executive Committee member of the California Conference of Local Health Officers. He was selected as a fellow to the 1996-7 Public Health Leadership Institute sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and the University of California.  During l989-l992 he was a member of the Kellogg National Fellowship Program.  He has also served on advisory and planning committees to the Bureau of Primary Health Care of the U.S. 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." 

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. He received his B.S. and medical degrees from the University of California at Davis. He is happily married with two grown children and has been a resident of Oakland, California since 1983.