Dr Chen Bowen obtained her Bachelor of Medicine from Sun Yat-sen University and PhD in Health Psychology from City University of Hong Kong. With a multidisciplinary background, she began her research career during the COVID-19 pandemic, by investigating the mental health trajectories of individuals under centralised quarantine. Subsequently, she participated in multiple projects studying how this global crisis affected the physical and mental health of diverse populations, including the general population in Hong Kong, immigrant families, and preterm infants and their mothers.

During her PhD study, she worked with a four-year cohort tracking Chinese young adults to understand how they navigated their life transition and adapted to the pandemic. Based on this cohort, her doctoral thesis focuses on how biopsychosocial factors and their interactions shape somatic symptoms, utilising advanced statistical methods such as multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, and machine learning techniques. Recently, she joined the School of Public Health as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2025, focusing her research on mHealth interventions to improve behavioural health.

1. Chen, B., Xie, M., Zhang, Y., Zhang, H., Yu, N. X.*, & Lin, D.* (2025). Who still suffers? Effects of COVID-19 stressful experiences on somatic symptoms and anxious mood moderated by diurnal cortisol: A daily diary study. Applied Psychology. Health and Well-being, 17(1), e12638. [IF = 6.9; JCR Q1, rank 9/83 in Applied Psychology]
2. Chen, B.,Xie, M., Zhang, Y., Zhang, H., Yu, N. X.*, & Lin, D.* (2024). Is it a vicious circle and for whom? The reciprocal association between rumination and somatic symptoms and moderation by stress: A daily diary study among Chinese college students. Applied Psychology. Health and Well-being, 16(2), 460–476 [IF = 6.9; JCR Q1, rank 9/83 in Applied Psychology]
3. Chen, B., Zhang, J., Yu, S., & Yu, N. X.* (2024). Trajectories and determinants of acute stress disorder during the COVID-19 centralized quarantine: A latent class growth analysis. Stress and Health, 40(3), e3351[IF = 4.1; JCR Q1, rank 17/92 in Psychology]
4. Chen, B., Gong, W., Lai, A. Y. K., Sit, S. M. M., Ho, S. Y., Yu, N. X.*, Wang, M. P.*, & Lam, T. H. (2023). Family context as a double-edged sword for psychological distress amid the COVID-19 pandemic with the mediating effect of individual fear and the moderating effect of household income. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 1109446. [IF = 6.5; JCR Q1, rank 18/182 in Public, Environmental & Occupational Health]
5. Chen, B., Gong, W., Lai, A. Y., Sit, S. M., Ho, S. Y., Wang, M. P.*, Yu, N. X.*, & Lam, T. H. (2022). Patterns of perceived harms and benefits of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong adults: A latent profile analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(7), 4352 [IF = 4.6; JCR Q1, rank 45/182 in Public, Environmental & Occupational Health]
6. Qu, D., Chen, B., Liu, I. K., Kouros, C. D., & Yu, N. X.* (2023). Variations in adaptation profiles among Chinese immigrant mothers and their children: A dyadic latent profile analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24(4), 1397–1418. [IF = 4.6; JCR Q1, rank 9/110 in Social Science, Interdisciplinary]
7. Yue, S., Zhang, J.*, Cao, M., & Chen, B. (2021). Knowledge, attitudes and practices of COVID-19 among urban and rural residents in China: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Community Health, 46(2), 286–291. [IF = 5.9; JCR Q1, rank 5/87 in Health Policy & Service]
8. Zhang, J.*, Cao, M., Ma, D., Zhang, G., Shi, Y., & Chen, B. (2022). Exploring effect of psychological first aid education on vocational nursing students: A quasi-experimental study. Nurse Education Today, 119, 105576 [IF = 3.9; JCR Q1, rank 10/123 in Nursing]