Jan 29, 2015Congrats to Cindy Chang
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Dr. Cindy J. Chang, president of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, was named the chief medical officer for the U.S. Olympic Team that will compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. One of the leading primary care sports medicine physicians in the country, Chang will oversee and collaborate with some of the nation’s premier sport physicians, athletic trainers, chiropractors, physical therapists and massage therapists to provide medical assistance for all athletes at the London Games.
The appointment came as a result of Chang’s many years of involvement with elite-level athletes and the U.S. Olympic Committee. She first volunteered with the USOC in 1996 when she served as a team physician at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Chang was a member of the U.S. medical staffs at the 1998 and 2002 Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano and Salt Lake City, before serving as the chief medical officer for Team USA at both the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Beyond her work with the USOC, Chang served as the head team physician for the University of California’s 27 athletic teams from 1995 to 2008. She is the author of numerous articles in sports medicine publications and peer-reviewed journals, and serves on the editorial board of Sports Health and as an associate editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine. She has also worked as a section editor for Current Sports Medicine Reports and as continuing medical education editor for The Physican and Sports Medicine.
A member of AMSSM since 1992, Chang held a four-year term on the organization’s board of directors from 2000-04, then served on the board for the AMSSM Foundation from 2005 until her election as AMSSM second vice president in 2009. She was a member of the Medical Education Committee for the American College of Sports Medicine, and has served on the Sports Medicine Committee of the California Interscholastic Federation since 1999.
Chang was the 2003 recipient of the AMSSM Founders Award, given to a sports medicine physician who demonstrates outstanding professional achievement and service to the community.
Board certified in family medicine, Chang also holds a certificate of added qualification in sports medicine. After earning both her bachelor’s degree (1984) and medical degree (1989) from The Ohio State University, Chang completed her family practice residency at University of California, Los Angeles in 1992 before returning to Ohio State for a fellowship in sports medicine.
In addition to serving as a team physician for Cal’s athletics program, Chang works at the school’s University Health Services in both urgent care and the specialty clinic. As an assistant clinical professor at UC Davis and UC San Francisco, she remains actively involved in the education of medical students, residents and fellows.
