H. Isaac Chen, MD
Neurosurgery
Accepting new patients
Sees patients age 18 and up
Penn Neurosurgery University City
View 1 additional location
Make an appointmentCall 215-294-9494
Penn Medicine Provider

About me

  • Residency Program Director, Neurosurgery
  • Chief of Neurosurgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
  • Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Veteran's Administration Medical Center

My primary interest as a neurosurgeon-scientist is the restoration of function after the brain has been damaged. From the clinical side, I work in the areas of neurotrauma, functional neurosurgery (i.e., deep brain stimulation and epilepsy surgery), and the resection of tumors in and around eloquent brain tissue. I am interested in clinical trials examining new methods for restoring brain function, mapping brain activity after injury, and bringing new technologies such as augemented reality into the operating room. I also run a translational laboratory focused on rebuilding the circuitry of the brain using a combination of techniques drawn from stem cell biology, neural tissue engineering, and neural interface technologies.

 

Education and training

  • Medical School: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
  • Residency: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

What my patients think about me

Average Rating

124 reviews

Comments are submitted by patients and reflect their views and opinions. The comments are not endorsed by and do not necessarily reflect the views of Penn Medicine.

October 2025
dr chen is always very thorough and a top notch neurosurgeon. we feel very comfortable having him take care of our son
October 2025
he is a great surgeon
August 2025
the thoroughness of my visit
August 2025
he took my time to speak to me slowly.

Insurance accepted

My Locations

Penn Medicine hospital privileges

  • Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
  • Pennsylvania Hospital: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
  • Penn Presbyterian Medical Center: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
Dr. Chen is a Penn Medicine physician.

Qualifications and experience

Treatments and Conditions

My research

Chen HI, Jgamadze D, Lim J, Mensah-Brown K, Wolf JA, Mills JA, Smith DH Functional cortical axon tracts generated from human stem cell-derived neurons , Tissue Engineering, Part A, 25(9-10): 2019,736-45

Chen HI, Ming GL, Song H Applications of cerebral organoids to clinical problems , Developmental Dynamics, 248(1): 2019,53-64

Piazza M*, Hitti FL*, Sinha S, Kvint S, Hudgins E, Baltuch G, Diaz-Arrastia R, Litt B, Davis KA, Lucas TH, Chen HI Surgical outcomes in post-traumatic epilepsy: A single institutional experience , Operative Neurosurgery, 18(1): 2020,12-18

Ulyanova AV, Koch, PF, Cottone C, Grovola MR, Adam CD, Browne KD, Weber M, Russo RJ, Gagnon K, Smith DH, Chen HI, Johnson VE, Cullen DK, Wolf JA Electrophysiological signature reveals laminar structure of the porcine hippocampus , eNeuro, 5(5): 2018,ENEURO.0102-18.2018

Liaudanskaya V*, Jgamadze D*, Berk AN, Bischoff D, Gu BJ, Hawks-Mayer H, Whalen M, Chen HI^, Kaplan DL^ (*co-first author, ^co-senior author) Engineering advanced neural tissue to mitigate acute cerebral inflammation after brain transplantation in rats , Biomaterials, 192: 2018,510-522

Buch V, Yang AI, Lucas TL, Chen HI Closed-loop stimulation methods: Current practice and future promise (Chapter 7) , Deep Brain Stimulation: Techniques and Practice: 2018

Struzyna LA, Browne KD, Brodnik ZD, Burrell JC, Harris JP, Chen HI, Wolf JA, Duda JE, Espana RA, Cullen DK Transplantable dopaminergic micro-tissue engineered neural networks to recapitulate the nigrostriatal pathway in Parkinson’s disease , Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 12(7): 2018,1702-1716

Goel NJ, Mallela AN, Agarwal P, Abdullah KG, Choudhri OA, Kung DK, Lucas TH, Chen HI Complications predicting perioperative mortality in patients undergoing elective craniotomy: an ACS-NSQIP analysis , World Neurosurgery, 118: 2018,e195-e205

Chen HI, Wolf JA, Smith DH Multichannel activity propagation across an engineered axon network , Journal of Neural Engineering, 14(2): 2017,026016

Chen HI, Jgamadze D, Serruya, MD, Cullen DK, Wolf JA, Smith DH Neural substrate expansion for the restoration of brain function , Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 10: 2016,1