Lin Yee Chen, MBBS, MS
Photo: Lin Yee Chen
Elected 2024

Dr. Lin Yee Chen is a tenured Professor of Medicine, board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist, NIH-funded physician-scientist, and the Director of the Lillehei Heart Institute at the University of Minnesota. His patient-oriented research on atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial myopathy is focused on 3 themes: (1) Identify novel risk factors for AF and atrial myopathy, and discover new strategies to prevent both conditions, (2) Characterize the relationship of AF and atrial myopathy to cardiovascular and neurocognitive outcomes such as stroke and dementia, and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms, and (3) Discover novel strategies to prevent AF and atrial myopathy-related stroke and dementia. Currently, he is the PI/MPI of 5 NIH R01/RF1-funded projects and a K24 grant. His research contributions include (a) established atrial myopathy as a novel risk factor for stroke and dementia, independent of AF, thus setting the stage for groundbreaking research to determine whether anticoagulation in individuals with atrial myopathy, even without AF, can reduce the risk of stroke and dementia, (b) established the prognostic value of atrial myopathy for a broad range of cardiovascular outcomes, (c) highlighted the contribution of arrhythmias, including AF, to dementia, (d) provided novel insights into risk factors of arrhythmias. Dr. Chen’s contributions to the field of AF and atrial myopathy have established him as an international thought leader in cardiology. He was a member of the 2019 ACC/AHA/HRS AF Guidelines Writing Committee, and Chair and Vice Chair of AHA Scientific Statement Writing Groups on AF (Circulation, 2018 and 2020). He has written numerous international expert consensus statements on AF and serves on the editorial board of Circulation: Arrhythmia Electrophysiology.