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Thomas Chang, MD

Medical Director of:
Physical Rehabilitation Medicine
Languages:
English
Service: Physical Rehabilitation Medicine
Specialty/Profession:
Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Areas of Clinical Interest:
Cerebal Palsy, spasticity, tone management, long term consequences of traumatic brain injury, myelopathy, spinal cord injury
Education:
Undergraduate - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1989)
Graduate - Institute of Optics, University of Rochester (1991)
Medical School - University of Massachusetts Medical School (2006)
Internship - Saint Vincent Hospital, Preliminary Internal Medicine (2007)
Residency - Stanford School of Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Fellowship - Children’s National Medical Center, Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2013)
Awards & Recognition:
Peter T. Singleton MD Award for Exemplified Excellence, Loyalty, and Special Dedication to the Program. Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Redwood City, CA June 2010
  Team Player Award. Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Redwood City, CA June 2008
Clinic Locations: Ashburn, Fairfax

Keystone Publications:

Sheng Q, Cheng H, Pardue M, Chang T, Nair G, Vo V, Shonat R, Duong T. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tissue and Vascular Layers in the Cat Retina”. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 23:465-472, 2006.

Chang T. “Investigation of HCI Random Noise Pulses Observed during HS-601 ESA Acceptance Testing”. EDO Corp. Internal Document. September 1992.
Service: Physical Rehabilitation Medicine
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Taiwan and grew up in Tokyo. I moved to the U.S. when I was 10-years-old and I've lived in Pittsburgh, New England, and California, before moving to the DC area for residency.
Why did you become a doctor and why did you choose your specialty?
2 aspects of PM&R appeals to me: 1) a philosophy generally favoring holistic approach to recover; 2) opportunities for engineering design to improve orthotics, prosthetics, and assistive devices.
What do you most enjoy doing outside of your clinical practice, when you’re not working?
Most of my free time is spent with my family. I enjoy running, and have participated in five marathons. I also enjoy martial arts – my wife and I met in an Aikido class – and I have been involved in teaching kids Aikido classes in the past.
Describe your proudest accomplishment as a provider and/or in your personal life:
Mostly small day-to-day achievements. Recent examples of children from Central America with inadequate care, who make tremendous improvement from being wheelchair dependent to being able to walk at home at school with a walker by giving them appropriate medications and orthoses. A completely different experience was as a medical student. I helped diagnose a pituitary tumor in a young adult male. He was nervous and evasive to the attending, but my gut feeling was that he had more that he wanted to tell, so I was able to interview him to the point that he reported growing breasts and lactating, and once these symptoms were identified, the diagnosis was straight forward.
If you weren’t a doctor, what profession would you most likely be doing and why?
If I didn't have to earn an income, I would like to be involved in international medial work, such as providing wheelchairs and orthoses and prostheses to the needy parts of the world, or making new orthoses and prostheses using 3D-printers, and being involved with engineering companies and universities to design new robotics to give hand function and to help people walk.
Personal Sketch:
2- Children (sons)
1- Pet (hampster)