Faculty

A native Californian, Dr. Jennifer F. Tseng earned degrees in English and biological sciences at Stanford, followed by an MD from UCSF. Dr. Tseng did surgery residency and served as Super-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by surgical oncology fellowship at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Tseng began her faculty career at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial in 2005, completing her MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School in 2007. Dr. Tseng was recruited to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) as Chief of Surgical Oncology in 2011 and rose to the rank of Professor of Surgery at Harvard, being the first woman to earn this distinction at BIDMC.  From 2017-2024, Dr Tseng served as the James Utley Professor and Chair of Surgery at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and the Surgeon-in-Chief at Boston Medical Center (BMC).  Dr. Tseng is the first  woman and first nonwhite person to be Chair of Surgery and  Surgeon-in-Chief in Boston.  At BMC/BU, Dr. Tseng accomplished ambitious objectives including improving medical student education; leading her department to increased regional, national, and international prominence; recruiting and sponsoring talented, diverse faculty and trainees; and measurably increasing clinical quality, research scholarship, and extramural funding. 

Dr. Tseng is a surgical oncologist specializing in upper GI surgery. Dr. Tseng founded the Surgical Outcomes Analysis & Research (SOAR) initiative in 2007 at the University of Massachusetts, subsequently moving SOAR to BIDMC and then to BU/BMC. Dr Tseng is a Past President of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT) and is a founder and Past President of the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons (SAAS). Dr. Tseng is a member of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) Council and a Director of the ABS Complex General Surgical Oncology Board.  Dr. Tseng is a deputy editor for JAMA Surgery and serves on numerous editorial boards.  She is also involved in philanthropic and foundation work, serving as the medical advisor for the PRIA pancreatic cancer research foundation, as well as the Chair of the 2024 Lustgarten Foundation-American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scientific Research Committee.  Dr Tseng has served as a board director and as an advisor for corporate entities and has advocated at the state and national level for research and treatment of cancer and pancreatic disease, as well as for patient and physician concerns.  Beginning in 2024, as BU Professor emerita, SOAR Senior Advisor, and principal of SOAR Enterprises LLC, Dr. Tseng has been focused on longitudinal work in health equity and advocacy, service to medical and philanthropic organizations, consulting, and writing projects.

Contact:  Michael Mazzara  mazzara.mgmt@gmail.com / 617 774 7878

Dr. Tseng email:   jftseng@bu.edu