Dr. Chang has had extensive experience as both a curricular leader and an advisory dean. For 10 years he directed the integrated neuroanatomy, neurology, and psychopathology course at HMS now known as Mind Brain and Behavior. He was one of several faculty involved in the creation of Pathways, a transformative curricular approach that includes a case-based collaborative pedagogy, longitudinal clinical skills training, and advanced integrated courses in biomedical and health-related social sciences, and for seven years he served as chair of the Pathways preclerkship curricular governance committee.

 

From 2016 to 2023, he was the advisory dean of Peabody Society, one of five learning communities dedicated to the academic, personal, and career advising of Harvard medical students. He has been honored with the Donald O’Hara Faculty Prize, the S. Robert Stone Award, and the Faculty Award for Best Preclinical Instructor for his teaching, and students have recognized him with the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award (three times) and Excellence in Residency Advising Award.

 

In his clinical practice, Dr. Chang cares for patients with seizure disorders and interprets diagnostic electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. He has been an attending physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a major Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital, for more than 20 years, and has served as Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Neurology and as Division Chief for Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology.

 

His research efforts have centered on the study of developmental brain disorders associated with epilepsy and learning difficulties. He and his colleagues identified a neural basis for dyslexia and seizures in a rare brain condition called periventricular nodular heterotopia, and he received the Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award for his early investigations. He has led review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense and serves as an associate editor of the medical journal JAMA Neurology.

 

Dr. Chang graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude in biochemical sciences, winning the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize and L. J. Henderson Prize for his senior thesis. He received his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. His residency and fellowship were completed in the Harvard training programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital and he received a Master of Medical Sciences degree from HMS in 2005.

 

He hails originally from Metuchen, New Jersey, and now lives with his family in Newton, Massachusetts, where he enjoys cooking for everyone, playing piano even when no one cares to listen, and being the fastest one to complete the New York Times crossword.