About

I am an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Research

My research currently focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on mortality. We have published several papers on the topic:

• Charpignon ML, Onofrey S, Chen Y-H, Rewegan A, Glymour MM, Klevens RM, Majumder MS. Association between social vulnerability and place of death during the first 2 years of COVID-19 in Massachusetts. Age Ageing. 2024;53(2):afae018.
• Paglino E, Lundberg DJ, Wrigley-Field E, Zhou Z, Wasserman JA, Raquib R, Chen Y-H, Hempstead K, Preston SH, Elo IT, Glymour MM, Stokes AC. Excess natural-cause mortality in US counties and association with reported COVID-19 deaths. P Natl Acad Sci USA. 2024;121(6):e2313661121.
• Karnik H, Wrigley-Field E, Levin Z, Chen Y-H, Zabel EW, Ramirez M, Leider JP. Examining excess mortality among critical workers in Minnesota during 2020-2021: An occupational analysis. Am J Public Health. 2023;113(11):1219-122.
• Chen R, Charpignon ML, Raquib RV, Wang J, Meza E, Aschmann HE, DeVost MA, Mooney A, Bibbins-Domingo K, Riley AR, Kiang MV, Chen Y-H, Stokes AC, Glymour MM. Excess mortality with Alzheimer disease and related dementias as an underlying or contributing cause during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. JAMA Neurol. 2023;80(9):919-928.
• Lundberg DJ, Wrigley-Field E, Cho A, Raquib R, Nsoesie EO, Paglino E, Chen R, Kiang MV, Riley AR, Chen Y-H, Charpignon ML, Hempstead K, Preston SH, Elo IT, Glymour MM, Stokes AC. COVID-19 mortality by race and ethnicity in US metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, March 2020 to February 2022. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(5):e2311098.
• Aschmann HE, Riley AR, Chen R, Chen Y-H, Bibbins-Domingo K, Stokes AC, Glymour MM, Kiang MV. Dynamics of racial disparities in all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022;119(40):e2210941119.
• Chen Y-H, Riley AR, Duchowny KA, Aschmann HE, Chen R, Kiang MV, Mooney A, Stokes AC, Glymour MM, Bibbins-Domingo K. COVID-19 mortality and excess mortality among working-age residents in California, USA, by occupational sector: A longitudinal cohort analysis of mortality surveillance data. Lancet Public Health. 2022;7(9):e744-e753.
• Chen Y-H, Matthay EC, Chen R, DeVost SA, Duchowny K, Riley AR, Bibbins-Domingo K,Glymour MM. Excess mortality in California by education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Prev Med. 2022.
• Chen Y-H, Stokes AC, Aschmann HE, Chen R, DeVost S, Kiang MV, Koliwad S, Riley AR, Glymour MM, Bibbins-Domingo K. Excess natural-cause deaths in California by cause and setting: March 2020 through February 2021. PNAS Nexus. 2022;1(3):pgac079.
• Kiang MV, Acosta RJ, Chen Y-H, Matthay EC, Tsai AC, Basu S, Glymour MM, Bibbins-Domingo K, Humphreys K, Arthur KN. Sociodemographic and geographic disparities in excess fatal drug overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic in California: A population-based study. Lancet Reg Health Am. 2022;11:100237.
• Chen R, Aschmann HE, Chen Y-H, Glymour MM, Bibbins-Domingo K, Stokes AC, Kiang MV. Racial and ethnic disparities in estimated excess mortality from external causes in the US, March to December 2020. JAMA Intern Med. 2022;182(7):776-778.
• Riley AR, Kiang MV, Chen Y-H, Bibbins-Domingo K, Glymour MM. Recent shifts in racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality in the vaccination period in California. J Gen Intern Med. 2022.
• Matthay EC, Duchowny KA, Riley AR, Thomas MD, Chen YH, Bibbins-Domingo K, Glymour MM. Occupation and educational attainment characteristics associated with COVID-19 mortality by race and ethnicity in California. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(4):e228406.
• Thomas MD, Matthay EC, Duchowny KA, Riley AR, Khela H, Chen Y-H, Bibbins-Domingo K, Glymour MM. A descriptive analysis of 2020 California Occupational Safety and Health Administration COVID-19-related complaints. SSM Popul Health. 2022;17:101016.
• Wrigley-Field E, Kiang MV, Riley AR, Barbieri M, Chen Y-H, Duchowny KA, Matthay EC, Van Riper D, Jegathesan K, Bibbins-Domingo K, Leider JP. Geographically targeted COVID-19 vaccination is more equitable and averts more deaths than age-based thresholds alone. Sci Adv. 2021;7(40):eabj2099.
• Riley AR, Chen Y-H, Matthay EC, Glymour MM, Torres JM, Fernandez A, Bibbins-Domingo K. Excess mortality among Latino people in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. SSM Popul Health. 2021;15:100860.
• Chen Y-H, Glymour M, Riley A, Balmes J, Duchowny K, Harrison R, Matthay E, Bibbins-Domingo K. Excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic among Californians 18-65 years of age, by occupational sector and occupation: March through November 2020. PLoS One. 2021;16(6):e0252454.
• Chen Y-H, Glymour MM, Catalano R, Fernandez A, Nguyen T, Kushel M, Bibbins-Domingo K. Excess mortality in California during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, March to August 2020. JAMA Intern Med. 2021;181(5):705-707.
• Catalano R, Glymour MM, Chen Y-H, Bibbins-Domingo K. Sheltering in place and the likelihood of nonnatural death. Am J Epidemiol. 2021;190(6):1075-1080.

A full list of my publications is available in my CV.

In action

Our study on excess mortality and occupation has been cited in:

• an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States, in a case involving vaccination in workplace settings
• an amicus curiae brief submitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a case involving vaccination in workplace settings
• committee analysis of a California Senate bill on workplace safety

The study has also been cited in opinion pieces in The Washington Post (here, here, and here) and Stat (here and here).

Our study on the number of people in San Francisco who inject drugs was cited in a San Francisco Safe Injection Services Task Force report recommending the establishment of safe injection service sites in San Francisco.

In the news

Our study on COVID-19 mortality and occupation in the US has been cited by The New York Times.

Our study on excess mortality among California Latinos has been cited by Telemundo 48 and Univision 14.

Our study on excess mortality and occupation has been cited by Nature, Science, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Reuters, The Guardian, Frontline, The Huffington Post, Marketplace, Newsweek, The Nation, Quartz, World Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mission Local, ABC Bay Area, NBC Bay Area, KQED, KPFA, KVPR, and KCBS.

Our study on excess mortality during the first 6 months of the pandemic has been cited by The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The San Jose Mercury News.

Our study on the number of people in San Francisco who inject drugs was cited by The New York Times, Mother Jones, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, SF Weekly, and NBC Bay Area.

Teaching

From 2017 through 2021, I taught an introductory biostatistics course for UCSF’s Master of Science in Global Health program. In Winter 2019 and Fall 2019, I taught an introductory course on R for UCSF’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Curriculum vitae

My CV is available here.

Contact

My email address is <first>.<last>@ucsf.edu. My public key (for optionally sending encrypted files) is available here.