PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Jonathan H. Chen

Jonathan Chen is a physician and Stanford associate professor who builds and tests AI tools for clinical decisions. After entering college at 13 and studying cybernetics at UCLA, he completed a computer science PhD in 2009 and a medical degree in 2011 at UC Irvine. He co-founded Reaction Explorer in 2010 and developed OrderRex to recommend clinical orders from medical records. In 2024, he coauthored a trial that found access to GPT-4 did not significantly improve physicians' diagnostic reasoning. He directs medical education in AI at Stanford Medicine and works on benchmarks that test AI on clinical and administrative tasks.

Works
337
Citations
9,778
h-index
46
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1994–2000

    Cybernetics at UCLA

    At 13, he enters California State University, Los Angeles in 1994. He transfers to UCLA in 1996 and earns a BS in cybernetics with a specialization in computer studies in 2000.

  2. 2009

    Computer science at UC Irvine

    In 2009, he completes a computer science PhD at UC Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. His graduate work develops an expert system for organic chemistry, with applications in drug discovery and student education.

  3. 2010–2011

    Reaction Explorer and medicine

    He co-founds Reaction Explorer LLC in 2010 to bring his graduate work on organic chemistry software into use. In 2011, he earns an MD through UC Irvine's Medical Scientist Training Program.

  4. 2011–2016

    Clinical training at Stanford

    He begins an internal medicine internship at Stanford University Hospital in 2011 and completes his residency in 2014. From 2014 to 2016, he trains as a medical informatics fellow at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto and Stanford.

  5. 2014

    An AMIA student paper award

    In 2014, he wins the Student Paper Award at the AMIA Joint Summits on Translational Science for “Automated Physician Order Recommendations and Outcome Predictions by Data-Mining Electronic Medical Records.” The paper proposes using electronic medical records to support physicians' ordering decisions.

  6. 2015–2017

    Stanford faculty and OrderRex

    He becomes an instructor in Stanford's Department of Medicine in 2015 and an assistant professor in November 2017, working in the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research and Division of Hospital Medicine. In 2017, he builds OrderRex, a platform that mines electronic medical records for clinical practice patterns and outcomes to guide medical decisions.

  7. 2024

    GPT-4 and diagnostic reasoning

    In 2024, he coauthors a trial that tests 50 physicians on clinical cases based on patient histories. The study finds that access to GPT-4 does not significantly improve physicians' diagnostic reasoning.

  8. 2025

    AI in medical education

    In January 2025, he becomes Faculty Director for Medical Education in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford Medicine. He leads the integration of an AI curriculum for students in medicine and physician assistant studies, which begins in autumn 2025.

  9. October 2026

    Medical AI benchmarks at Stanford

    In October 2026, he coauthors “Measuring What Medical AI Can Actually Do” with Nigam Shah, describing their work on MedHELM, PhysicianBench and HealthAdminBench to test clinical and administrative tasks. He continues as an associate professor of medicine in Stanford's Division of Computational Medicine and of biomedical data science, following his promotion in August 2025, and directs medical education in AI.

Career

  1. Since 2025Stanford UniversityFaculty Director for Medical Education in Artificial Intelligence
  2. Since 2025Stanford UniversityAssociate Professor of Medicine
  3. NowStanford UniversityAssociate Professor of Biomedical Data Science
  4. 2017–2025Stanford UniversityAssistant Professor of Medicine, University Medical Line
  5. 2015–2017Stanford UniversityInstructor
  6. 2014–2016Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care SystemMedical Informatics Fellow
  7. 2014–2016Stanford UniversityMedical Informatics Fellow
  8. 2012–2014Stanford HospitalInternal Medicine Resident
  9. 2011–2012Stanford HospitalInternal Medicine Intern
  10. From 2010Reaction Explorer LLCCo-founder

Education

  1. 2011University of California, IrvineMD
  2. 2009University of California, IrvinePhD in computer science
  3. 2000University of California, Los AngelesBS in cybernetics with specialization in computer studies
  4. 1996California State University Los Angeles

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Checked career sources: docs.google.com, profiles.stanford.edu.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Jonathan H. Chen yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Jonathan Chen_Annotated CV docs.google.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Alumni Spotlight: Jonathan Chen Prescribes Lessons in AI to Medical Doctors | UC Irvine School of Medicine medschool.uci.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. DR. JONATHAN CHEN | HealthRex Lab healthrexlab.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. NLM Grantee Spotlight nlm.nih.gov. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Proposed NIH cuts would impact much of SHP’s critical research | FSI healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Can AI Improve Medical Diagnostic Accuracy? | Stanford HAI hai.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Paging Dr. Algorithm | Stanford Medicine magazine stanmed.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Measuring What Medical AI Can Actually Do | Stanford HAI hai.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. Jonathan H. Chen, MD, PhD's Profile | Stanford Profiles profiles.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.