Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC)
Investigator Story: Jason Chen, PhD
Written by Noah Jacobson
Dr. Jason Chen builds community wherever he goes. His aptly named research lab, the Connecting Communities for Suicide Prevention Lab (CCSP), studies factors across multiple levels of suicide prevention for high-risk populations, with a focus on military Veterans, community-based approaches, and help-seeking processes. Dr. Chen recognizes that optimal healthcare and health services research is best approached with a team; for him, the more comprehensive the team, the better to serve a broad range of needs.
Dr. Chen promotes suicide prevention with a specific focus on informing community-based prevention. He completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of South Florida in 2016, focusing on mechanisms of suicide risk and the implementation and dissemination of suicide prevention programming. From there, he completed his American Psychological Association accredited internship at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System and a postdoctoral fellowship in health services research at CIVIC. As he’s progressed in his career, disparities in care have become “increasingly salient” and factor prominently into how he conceptualizes research. For instance, because rural Veterans face health disparities, Dr. Chen and his team are now expanding upon their prior Office of Rural Health-funded project focused on understanding social networks’ impacts of suicide exposure to additional rural counties in Oregon. Visiting the more rural parts of the state to “develop solutions informed by Veterans and those who care for them” is one of the most rewarding parts of the work, remarked Dr. Chen.
Since coming to CIVIC, Dr. Chen champions the collaborative research environment at CIVIC. He quickly recognized the values of “mentorship, teaching, and supporting others’ professional development.” When asked about his collaborators, he mused, “I feel like all of CIVIC are a part of my team in their own way, but in terms of whom I interact with most regularly, Avery Laliberte and Brandon Roth are my primary research team folks. And in terms of their role, they do everything really from providing feedback on projects to writing up their own papers and presenting out in the community.” He is also a regular presence at CIVIC’s Friday Conferences where he workshops new ideas, facilitates fellow researcher’s presentations, and even coordinates with scientists outside of the VA. For instance, Dr. Chen recently invited Dr. Trevor Pickering, an assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health at the University of Southern California, to discuss research on the use of social networks and peer-led interventions to promote healthy behaviors. Finding ways to stay involved and connect with others is a hallmark of Dr. Chen’s approach.
Continuing his focus on developing research responsive to community needs, Dr. Chen’s goal remains to involve Veterans more deeply in the research process. Dr. Chen emphasized that simply checking in about how things are going with a Veteran instead of “making assumptions about what they might need” has become a guiding principle both in the community engagement study and beyond. Currently, he and his team are about to launch the next phase of their Veteran identity measurement development project, which is focused on understanding stereotypes both Veterans and non-Veterans have about Veteran populations. Plus, Dr. Chen is “honored and excited” to begin a new HSR&D-funded Investigator-Initiated Research (IIR) project on racial/ethnic differences in suicide-related care in the coming year, titled “Serving All Who Have Served: Enhancing Suicide-Related Care Quality for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Veterans.” He added, “elevating the voices of our Veterans and those who care for them” is what keeps him motivated.
When not conducting research, Dr. Chen addresses workplace wellness at CIVIC. He helped lead a staff support group during COVID-19 to aid fellow researchers' well-being. While the group is no longer currently running, he still abides by similar principles: checking in with co-workers, taking walks throughout campus to clear his head, or going to the employee gym for a movement break and a place of quiet. Keep an eye and ear out for Dr. Chen; he’s likely got the CIVIC and broader VA community on his mind.
