Graduation 2014 Profiles: Andrew Chan

By Joseph Neighbor

“I came to medicine by a serendipitous path,” says Andrew Chan. When Mr. Chan was just 4 years old, his father died after a battle with cancer.

Though Mr. Chan was too young to remember much, “I’m sure subconsciously, it made an indelible impression on me.” This impression was built upon by the many hours he spent in the hospital after his paternal grandparents both suffered intracerebral hemorrhages. During that time, says Mr. Chan, “I saw the profound impact of neurological disease.”

When he came to medical school, Mr. Chan planned on going into orthopedic surgery. But he soon became interested in neurosurgery, particularly in treating psychiatric disorders. “I’m attracted to the questions in neuroscience,” he says. “It’s a field about which we know very little. Now doctors are treating conditions that were once untreatable. There’s still so much to learn, which means there is so much for me to contribute in my career.”

Mr. Chan took a year off to research the behavior of dopamine neurons in patients receiving deep brain stimulation. The project involved inserting electrodes into a patient’s brain; the patient performed cognitive tasks while undergoing surgery while awake. “I like to use my hands,” he says. His work was funded in part by a Doris Duke clinical research fellowship and guided by lead investigator and mentor Guy McKhann II, MD, associate professor of neurological surgery.

After applying to 20 programs in just about every major city, Mr. Chan learned that he will return to his hometown to start a residency in neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, his top choice.