David Chang, M.P.H., Ph.D.


Associate Investigator
Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery, Mass General Research Institute
Associate Professor of Surgery
Harvard Medical School
disparity research; health policy issues; neurobiology; quality improvement; social psychology; surgical outcomes research

David C. Chang, PhD, MPH, MBA, is an associate professor of surgery at Mass General, Harvard Medical School, and the director of healthcare research and policy development in the Codman Center. Dr. Chang earned his Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2004, after completing both his Master’s of Business Administration and Master’s of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to Hopkins, Dr. Chang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University with a double major in neurobiology and social psychology. Dr. Chang started his professional career with a primary appointment in the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Department of Health Policy and Management and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and then continued on to the University of California San Diego, where he was the director of outcomes research for the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Chang has committed his entire professional life to bridging the gap between clinical surgery and public health. Dr. Chang has published more than 250 peer-reviewed original research articles and book chapters on various issues related to surgical outcomes research, disparity research, quality improvement, and health policy issues, and has received numerous awards, including the EMS Geriatrics Award from the governor of Maryland. Dr. Chang is a member of several advisory committees and review groups, such as the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs at the Department of Defense, the Roundtable on Emergency Trauma Research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the California EMS Authority Core Measures Task Force, and the Surgical Patient Safety Advisory Committee for the State of California.