Dr. Tammy Chang is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine, a health services researcher, and a practicing family physician with a passion for adolescent health. She is specifically interested in helping break the cycle of poverty and poor health among adolescent mothers and their children via community-engaged research. Her NIH-sponsored research is focused on improving access to reproductive health care and promoting healthy pregnancy weight gain among at-risk adolescents by utilizing text messaging.
She is also the founding director of MyVoice (www.hearmyvoicenow.org), a national text-message poll of youth age 14-24 years. MyVoice engages youth and communities typically invisible to researchers and uses mixed methods to inform local and national policies in real-time.
Dr. Chang is also the director of the Health Behavior Optimization for Michigan (HBOM) Collaborative Quality Initiative, a statewide clinical quality improvement initiative with funding and support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (U-M). Through her leadership, HBOM uses cutting-edge behavior change strategies to transform clinical practices and priorities. HBOM initiatives help individuals living in Michigan make easier health choices so that all residents can achieve their health and wellness goals.
Additionally, Dr. Chang is the director of the National Clinician Scholars Program at U-M where she trains junior faculty clinicians in health services research. She also teaches a Master’s level course in Leadership and Communication in connection with the scholars program. She actively mentors numerous students in high school, undergraduate and graduate schools, as well as medical students and post-doctoral fellows, to inspire and guide the health services researchers of the future.
Besides her teaching and research endeavors, Dr. Chang is a practicing physician at the Corner Health Center in Ypsilanti.
She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, with honors in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Zoological Anthropology. She also received her medical degree and master of public health degree in health policy and management from U-M. Dr. Chang completed residency training and served as co-chief resident in the Department of Family Medicine at U-M. She is also an alumna of the university's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program.
Dr. Chang has served on various National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committees and working groups and has co-authored two consensus reports on adolescent health and development. She currently serves on NASEM’s Board on Children Youth and Families. She has also served on the board of directors of both the North American Primary Care Research Group and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, where she served as Research Committee chair.
Dr. Chang is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and conversant in Spanish.
