Lei Chen, MD, PhD is a professor in the Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is also an investigator and medical oncologist with special interests in sarcoma and gastrointestinal cancer at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Her research interests include oncogene signal transduction (a biological process that creates functional changes within the cell leading to malignancy), mechanisms of drug resistance, and the discovery of new targets for cancer therapy. A current clinical trial with which she is involved combines targeted therapy (Gleevec) and immunotherapy (PEG-Intron) to eradicate drug-resistant cells as well as tumor stem cells, with the hope of durable remission or cure of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).

Chen received her PhD in biochemistry from City University of New York and her medical degree at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She completed a residency at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center and an oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Before joining Huntsman Cancer Institute in 2006, she served as a faculty member at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas.