Chien’s career spans over 35 years in biomedicine. Her work included public service at the National Institutes of Health and academic institutes, executive level legal counsel in the commercial sector and teaching law students in the intellectual property field. Chien is licensed to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Colorado State Bar. She is active in her community, serving on the Annapolis Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals and providing certified animal-assisted therapy to patients and staff at medical facilities.
Chien earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Mount Holyoke College, her master's and doctorate degrees in molecular immunology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and her law degree from the University of Denver.