Virginia W Chang

Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Virginia W. Chang, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at NYU School of Global Public Health, Associate Professor of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine, and Affiliated Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at NYU. Dr. Chang is a graduate of the Inteflex Program at the University of Michigan, where she received her BS and MD degrees.  She then completed a residency in internal medicine, fellowship training with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, and a PhD in sociology, all at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining NYU, Dr. Chang was in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a staff physician at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center.

As a physician and sociologist, Dr. Chang integrates perspectives from medicine, epidemiology, sociology, and demography in her research. Much of her work has focused on obesity and health disparities, engaging topics such as the influence of socially structured context (e.g., racial segregation, income inequality, neighborhood social/physical disorder) on obesity; the relationship of obesity to mortality and disability; the influence of weight status on the quality of medical care; socioeconomic disparities in health and mortality; and the inter-relationships between health, medical technologies, and stratification.

Her research program has been funded by the NICHD, NHLBI, and NIA of the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Health Administration, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Measy Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, and the Russell Sage Foundation.  She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Society of General Internal Medicine Award for Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year and the Marjorie A. Bowman Award from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for achievement in the health evaluation sciences. Dr. Chang is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Chang’s publications span a variety of disciplines, including journals such as JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Epidemiology, Journal of Health & Social Behavior, Social Science & Medicine, Demography, and Social Forces.  She was recently an Associate Editor of the Journal of Health & Social Behavior.

Education

BS, Biomedical Sciences and Philosophy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

MD, Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

MA, Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

PhD, Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

-

Fellow, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Resident, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Intern, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

-

Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine

Licensed Medical Physician, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Honors and awards

Majorie A. Bowman Research Award, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2010)

Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year, Society of General Internal Medicine (2008)

Robert Austrian Faculty Award for Health Evaluation Reserach, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2008)

Physician Faculty Scholars Award, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2007)

Finalist, Hamolsky Junior Facutly Award, Society of General Internal Medicine (2004)

Finalist, Richard Saller Prize for Best Dissertation in the Division of the Social Sciences, University of Chicago (2003)

Graduate University Fellowship, University of Chicago (2001)

Eli G. Rochelson Memorial Award for Excellence in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School (1994)

Biomedical Research Program Scholarship, University of Michigan Medical School (1991)

James B. Angell Scholar, University of Michigan (1988)

William J. Branstrom Freshman Prize, University of Michigan (1986)

Areas of research and study

Global Health

Health Disparities

Internal Medicine

Obesity

Population Health

Social Behaviors

Publications

Publications

Discrimination exposure and lymphocyte differentiation: Results from the health and retirement study

Failed retrieving data.

Anti-vaccine attitudes and COVID-19 vaccine status at the end of the U.S. public health emergency

Failed retrieving data.

Association of Early Life Risk Factors and APOE ε4 With Incident Dementia: Evidence From 14 Years of U.S. Data

Failed retrieving data.

Interventions to improve racial and ethnic equity in critical care: A scoping review

Failed retrieving data.

Measurement invariance of the perceived discrimination scale across race/ethnicity and sex: Findings from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study

Failed retrieving data.

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders : Disparities in the Prevalence of Multiple Chronic Conditions

Failed retrieving data.

The aging immune system and all-cause mortality in older americans: differences across sex and race/ethnicity

Failed retrieving data.

Who Works Non-Day Shits? : An Investiation of Populaion and Within-Cohort Trends

Failed retrieving data.

Multi-discrimination exposure and biological aging : Results from the midlife in the United States study

Failed retrieving data.

Neighborhood Social Environment and Dementia:The Mediating Role of Social Isolation

Failed retrieving data.

Number of children and risk of dementia : a cohort study

Failed retrieving data.

Association between racial residential segregation and walkability in 745 U.S. cities

Failed retrieving data.

COVID-19 stigmatization after the development of effective vaccines: Vaccination behavior, attitudes, and news sources

Failed retrieving data.

Cumulative exposure to extreme heat and trajectories of cognitive decline among older adults in the USA

Failed retrieving data.

Ethnic Enclaves, Mental Health and Cardiometabolic Risk in Asian Americans

Failed retrieving data.

Extreme Heat and Cognitive Decline among Older Adults: An Unequal Burden Across Groups and Communities

Failed retrieving data.

Health Insurance and Mental Health Treatment Use Among Adults With Criminal Legal Involvement After Medicaid Expansion

Failed retrieving data.

Internet usage and the prospective risk of dementia : A population-based cohort study

Failed retrieving data.

Multi-Disrimination Exposure and Biological Aging: Results from the Midlife in the United States Study

Failed retrieving data.

Neighborhood Disadvantage, Social Isolation, and Dementia

Failed retrieving data.

Neighborhood Social Environment and Dementia: The Mediating Role of Social Isolation

Failed retrieving data.

Number of Children and Risk of Dementia

Failed retrieving data.

Time Path of Weight Status Before and After Incident Dementia

Failed retrieving data.

Who Works Non-Day Shifts? An Investigation of Population and Within-cohort Trends

Failed retrieving data.

Anti-Vaccine Attitudes among Adults in the U.S. during the COVID-19 Pandemic after Vaccine Rollout

Failed retrieving data.