Mark S. Chen

Dr. Chen’s research focuses broadly on stress and psychopathology across the lifespan, with a central interest in the transdiagnostic roles of emotion and emotion regulation processes: (1) how they are shaped by adverse life experiences, (2) how their function varies across situational and cultural contexts, and (3) how to model flexible, context-sensitive regulatory behaviors and translate these findings into improved idiographic interventions for individuals with depression and anxiety disorders. To understand these processes within people, over time, and across situations and cultures, his work is multidisciplinary and leverages a multi-method approach—ranging from laboratory experiments and physiological measures to large-scale longitudinal studies and ecological momentary assessments with smartphones and wearables. His research includes both clinical and normative populations and compares findings across cultures using cross-national surveys, behavioral tasks, and meta-analyses.

Dr. Chen obtained his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University and completed his clinical internship at Weill Cornell Medical College. Prior to arriving at Harvard, he was a Susan Nolen-Hoeksema Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University.

Dr. Chen may be interested in reviewing graduate applications.

Research interests: depression and anxiety, emotion and emotion regulation, stress and adversity, cultural contexts, flexibility