Dr. Chang is a rheumatologist with more than 20 years of clinical experience. His major clinical interest is in rehabilitative rheumatology, and he is regarded as an expert in this field. He is the Director of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Arthritis Center and Immediate Past Chair of the Rehabilitation Section of the American College of Rheumatology. He is co-author of the rehabilitation chapter in Koopman’s and Moreland’s textbook, Arthritis and Allied Conditions, one of the major international rheumatology textbooks.

Dr. Chang has been the Director of the Northwestern University Master of Public Health Program since its reorganization in 1996. During this time he has led the program to achieve pre-accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health in 2000 and full accreditation from CEPH in 2003. The program focuses on public health education for medical students and health professionals and trains its students to become effective “boundary-spanners” between the fields of medicine and public health, an appropriate description of Dr. Chang’s professional career. In September, 2005, Dr. Chang was appointed Acting Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine.

Research Interests and Community Activities

Dr. Chang is noted for his clinical epidemiologic/health services research focused on the outcomes of rehabilitation and orthopaedic surgical treatments for persons with arthritis and the determinants of functional limitation in clinical and community populations with arthritis. Much of his community population work has been done in collaboration with Dorothy Dunlop, PhD and Larry Manheim, PhD. He also has experience performing decision analysis and cost-effective analysis in collaboration with Dr. Manheim and Gordon Hazen, PhD. With several research and clinical colleagues, Dr. Chang is currently developing and testing a physical activity promotion program for patients with arthritis. Dr. Chang’s public health oriented research, reflective of his formal public health training and interests, has also led to his prominence in the arthritis public health community both at the state and national level. As a volunteer for the Arthritis Foundation as well as a representative of the Northwestern University Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center in Rheumatology and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Arthritis Center, Dr. Chang is a major contributor to the new state-based arthritis prevention program based in the Illinois Department of Public Health. He is an active volunteer for the Arthritis Foundation, where he is a member of the National Office’s Public Health Council and is the current Chair of the Foundation’s Greater Chicago Chapter.

last updated:Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:07 PM