Dr. Tammy Chang is a health services researcher and practicing family physician with a passion for adolescent health, specifically, breaking 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 using 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. Through her leadership, HBOM uses cutting-edge behavior change strategies to transform clinical practices and priorities. HBOM initiatives make the healthy choice the easy choice so all Michiganders can achieve their health and wellness goals.

Dr. Chang is the Director of the National Clinician Scholars Program at the University of Michigan where she trains junior faculty clinicians in health services research and teaches a Master’s level course in Leadership and Communication. She actively mentors numerous high school students, undergraduate students, graduate students, medical students, and post-doctoral fellows to fill the pipeline of future health services researchers.

Dr. Tammy Chang is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and a practicing physician at the Corner Health Center. 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 the University of Michigan. Dr. Chang completed residency training and served as co-chief resident in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan and is an alumna of the University of Michigan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program. She has served on committees and working groups at the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and has co-authored two consensus reports on the health and development of adolescents.

She currently serves on the NASEM’s Board on Children Youth and Families. Dr. Chang 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 the Chairperson of the Research Committee.

Elevating youth voice to inform health policies in real-time via a national text message poll (www.hearmyvoicenow.org)

Social media and text message interventions to improve health behaviors

Healthcare policy focusing on access to healthcare and nutrition services for marginalized populations