Tsinsue Chen ’98

Written January 2016

Dr. Tsinsue Chen spends most of her days in the operating room, where she commonly performs cranial surgery for brain tumors and aneurysms, and spinal surgery for spinal tumors, herniated discs, and traumatic fractures. A simple procedure might last one hour, while a more complex case might go on for as long as 10 hours. “You get used to it,” she says. “You have to build up your endurance.”

In the fifth year of a seven-year neurosurgery residency in Phoenix, Ariz., Tsinsue is supervised in the operating room by an attending surgeon, but she does the majority of the surgery on her own. Then she follows patients during the rest of their hospital stay and later for office visits. She finds the work to be inherently rewarding. “I really enjoy just taking care of patients,” she says, noting, “Nobody wants to have this kind of surgery, so these are patients who really need it.”

To counter the pace and intensity of her job, Tsinsue likes to “de-stress” with running and yoga, and relax with family, friends, and her fiancée. She also loves to travel. Even if she has only five days of vacation, she might take a quick trip to Europe. She says, “It’s important to keep a balanced life.”

The value of balance was first impressed upon her at Harding, which she attended from fifth through eighth grade. She fondly remembers singing “La Marseillaise” in French class, having debates in history, and enjoying many positive experiences with music. “Harding is really good at providing a well-rounded education,” she says. “It’s not like one area is more important than the others. It’s a good foundation.”

After Harding, Tsinsue moved to San Diego for high school and then attended University of California, San Diego. As an undergraduate, she didn’t know what she wanted for a career and considered law and laboratory science—until a family member had a neurological issue. That piqued Tsinsue’s interest in medicine, and she went on to enroll at UC San Diego’s medical school.

Tsinsue, who will get married next year and graduate from her residency in 2018, would like to build a career caring for patients who have Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and similar disorders. She is especially interested in a procedure called deep brain stimulation—involving the implantation into the brain of electrodes that are connected to a kind of brain pacemaker—which can mitigate symptoms in patients with movement disorders and help them stay more active and independent longer. Tsinsue says, “Improving quality of life is what is important to me.”

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