Body
David Chen, MD, retired in January after 38 years with Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Throughout his esteemed career, he has treated countless patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), and, during his time as the medical director of the hospital’s SCI program, he transformed the program into one of the most respected and influential in the country.
Dr. Chen also served as the project director of the Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System (MRSCICS) — a federally funded program committed to ensuring premier care, innovative research and meaningful dissemination of best practices to the SCI community. With his retirement, Anne Deutsch, PhD, RN, a research scientist at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, will become the Institutional Review Board (IRB) principal investigator of the MRSCICS National Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) Database project, a role previously held by Dr. Chen.
This national research database contains comprehensive data on individuals with traumatic SCI in the United States and serves as a critical resource for advancing research, improving clinical care, and deepening our understanding of long-term outcomes after SCI.
"Dr. Chen and I developed the National SCIMS Database project procedures together in 2006. I look forward to continuing to build on the project’s successes." said Dr. Deutsch. "The information shared by participants at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab contributes to our understanding of changes in SCI trends and research to improve outcomes for people with SCI.”
More About Dr. Chen
Dr. Chen’s medical journey began when, in 1987, he enrolled in residency at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC; now Shirley Ryan AbilityLab). After graduating in 1991, he was hired as an attending physician. Soon thereafter, Dr. Chen was appointed medical director of the hospital’s SCI program, serving in that role for the next 25 years.
Dr. Chen also founded Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s SCI fellowship program, which has trained leaders in SCI medicine across the nation. He has taught hundredsmedical students and residents as an associate professor at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
In addition to his clinical leadership, Dr. Chen has made enduring scholarly contributions. He served as the co-project director of MRSCICS with Allen Heinemann, PhD, director of the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Dr. Chen has authored more than 35 peer-reviewed publications and contributed 10 textbook chapters across multiple domains of spinal cord medicine. And, he has contributed significantly to organizations dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals with SCI, including a longstanding involvement with Facing Disability.
Read below as Dr. Chen reflects on his career — and what’s next for him and the treatment of patients with SCI.
How did the SCI program evolve during your tenure as director?
I took over as director in 1994, and continued in that role until August 2021, when I handed it off to Allison Kessler, MD, MS, section chief, Renée Crown Center for Spinal Cord Innovation. In my time, it certainly grew enormously in terms of the volume of individuals we treated. At RIC, we were on one floor and treated 30 patients at a time; when we moved to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab building in 2017, we grew to two floors and averaged 40 to 50 patients at time.
In addition to volume, all parts of the SCI portfolio have grown significantly, thanks to the contributions of so many individuals — not just me. Our research and academic endeavors have grown with the addition of Monica Perez, PT, PhD, scientific chair, Harris Family Arms + Hands Lab.
I’m one of those rare birds who spent their entire career, including their post-medical school training, at the same institution. I think that's partly why it's been so remarkable to see the growth and evolution of rehabilitation services that we provide.
What has been the most exciting development in medical treatment over your career?
The introduction and the use of a number of different modalities and equipment have greatly added to what we can provide for patients. For instance, when the Lokomat came along, we were one of the first — if not the first — institutions in the country to have that equipment. Now it's commonplace, but it changed the approach to what we provide for these individuals to help them. It made standing and ambulating realistic goals for many patients with incomplete spinal cord injuries.
What excites you about the future of spinal cord injury medicine and rehabilitation?
The future is incredibly bright because of the work that individuals like Dr. Perez are leading. The potential for treatments — whether they be pharmacologic, whether they be surgical, whether they be other modalities — is incredible.
What are your plans for retirement?
I'm going to discontinue providing medical care for patients with spinal cord injuries altogether, but I'm going to still be paying attention. I’ll be monitoring the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab website to see how things are progressing.
What I will do is pursue the things that I haven't necessarily had the time to commit to and to really delve into. I enjoy photography and astronomy, so I'm interested in taking classes at a local community college to broaden my understanding of those topics. And, certainly, I’ll spend more time with friends and family, especially with my four grandchildren: two boys and two girls, who range in age from 3 to 7.