Medical Sociology
Social Stratification
Social Epidemiology
Social Demography
Health Services Research
Dr. Chang's research integrates perspectives from medicine, sociology, and epidemiology to study relationships between health and socio-cultural life. Much of her research has focused on obesity, engaging topics such as historical shifts in the medical conceptualization of obesity; the relationship between obesity and key features of the residential environment (e.g., inequality, segregation, and disorder); the role of health in class stratification; obesity and SES over the life cyle and across generations; the relationship of technologies to health disparities; and the influence of obesity on mortality, disability, and the quality of medical care.
Dr. Chang has recevied a Career Development Award from the NIH / NICHD, a Measy Foundation Award, a New Investigator Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a Physician Faculty Scholars Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an R01 from the NIH / NHLBI, a Merit Award from the Veterans Health Administration, and a Clinical Translational Research Award from the American Diabetes Association. In 2008, Dr. Chang received the Award for Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year from the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). In 2010, Dr. Chang recieved the Marjorie A. Bowman New Investigator Research Award from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for achievement in the health evaluation sciences.
Selected Publications
Medalia, Carla and Virginia W. Chang: Gender Equality, Development, and Cross-National Sex Gaps in Life Expectancy. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 52(5): 371-389, 2011.
Myrskylä, Mikko, Neil K. Mehta, and Virginia W. Chang: Early Life Exposure to the 1918 Pandemic and Old-Age Mortality by Cause of Death. American Journal of Public Health Forthcoming.
Mehta, Neil K. and Virginia W. Chang: Obesity and Mortality. The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity. John H. Cawley (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, Page: 502-516, 2011.
Mehta, Neil K. and Virginia W. Chang: Secular Declines in the Association between Obesity and Mortality in the United States. Population Development and Review 37(3): 435-451, 2011.
Alley, Dawn E. and Virginia W. Chang: Metabolic Syndrome and Weight Gain in Adulthood. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences 65A(1): 111-117, 2010.
Long, Judith A., Sam Field, Katrina Armstrong, Virginia W. Chang, and Joshua P. Metlay: Social Capital and Glucose Control. Journal of Community Health 35: 519-526, 2010.
Chang, Virginia W., David A. Asch, and Rachel M. Werner: Quality of Care among Obese Patients. JAMA 303(13): 1274-1281, 2010.
Chang, Virginia W.: Obesity Among Poor Americans: Is Public Assistance the Problem? Contemporary Sociology 39(2): 204-205, 2010 Notes: Invited Book Review.
Chang, Virginia W. and Diane S. Lauderdale: Fundamental Cause Theory, Technological Innovation, and Health Disparities: The Case of Cholesterol in the Era of Statins. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 50(3): 245-260, 2009.
Mehta, Neil K. and Virginia W. Chang: Mortality Attributable to Obesity among Middle-Aged Adults in the United States. Demography 46(4): 851-872, 2009.
Chang, Virginia W., Amy E. Hillier, and Neil K. Mehta: Neighborhood Racial Isolation, Disorder, and Obesity. Social Forces 87(4): 2063-2092, 2009.
Myrskylä, Mikko and Virginia W. Chang: Weight Change, Initial BMI, and Mortality Among Middle- and Older-Aged Adults. Epidemiology 20(6): 840-848, 2009.
Krueger, Patrick M. and Virginia W. Chang: Being Poor and Coping with Stress: Health Behaviors and the Risk of Death. American Journal of Public Health 98(5): 889-896, 2008.
Chang, Virginia W.: Affect and Heart Disease. British Medical Journal 337(7660): a177, 2008 Notes: Invited Editorial.
Werner, Rachel M. and Virginia W. Chang: The Impact of Clinical Complexity on Measured Performance and Satisfaction with Care. Journal of General Internal Medicine 23(11): 1729-1735, 2008.
Mehta, Neil K. and Virginia W. Chang: Weight Status and Restaurant Availability: A Multilevel Analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 34(2): 127-133, 2008.
Doshi, Jalpa A., Daniel Polsky, and Virginia W. Chang: Prevalence and Trends in Obesity among Aged and Disabled U.S. Medicare Beneficiaries, 1997-2002. Health Affairs 26(4): 1111-1117, 2007.
Alley, Dawn E. and Virginia W. Chang: The Changing Relationship of Obesity and Disability, 1988-2004. JAMA 298(17): 2020-2027, 2007.
Meich, Richard A., Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Nicolas Stettler, Bruce G. Link, Jo C. Phlelan, and Virginia W. Chang: Trends in the Association of Poverty with Overweight among U.S. Adolescents, 1971-2004. JAMA 295(20): 2385-2393, 2006.
Chang, Virginia W.: Racial Residential Segregation and Weight Status among U.S. Adults. Social Science & Medicine 63(5): 1289-1303, 2006.
Chang, Virginia W.: Conceiving Risk, Bearing Responsibility: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome & the Diagnosis of Moral Disorder. American Journal of Sociology 110(5): 1513-1515, 2005 Notes: Invited Book Review.
Chang, Virginia W. and Diane S. Lauderdale: Income Disparities in Body Mass Index and Obesity in the United States, 1971-2002. Archives of Internal Medicine 165(18): 2122-2128, 2005.
Chang, Virginia W. and Nicholas A. Christakis: Income Inequality and Weight Status in U.S. Metropolitan Areas. Social Science & Medicine 61(1): 83-96, 2005.
Long, Judith A., Virginia W. Chang, Said A. Ibrahim, and David A. Asch: Update on the Health Disparities Literature. Annals of Internal Medicine 141(10): 805-812, 2004.
Chang, Virginia W. and Nicholas A. Christakis: Self-perception of Weight Appropriateness in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 24(4): 332-339, 2003.
Iwashyna, Theodore J., Virginia W. Chang, James X. Zhang, and Nicholas A. Christakis: The Lack of Effect of Market Structure on Hospice Use. Health Services Research 37(6): 1531-1551, 2002.
Chang, Virginia W. and Nicholas A. Christakis: Medical Modeling of Obesity: A Transition from Action to Experience in a 20th Century American Medical Textbook. Sociology of Health & Illness 24(2): 151-177, 2002.
Iwashyna, Theodore J. and Virginia W. Chang: Racial and Ethnic Differences in Place of Death: United States, 1993. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 50(6): 1113-1117, 2002.
Chang, Virginia W. and Nicholas A. Christakis: Extent and Determinants of Discrepancy between Self-Evaluations of Weight Status and Clinical Standards. Journal of General Internal Medicine 16(8): 538-543, 2001.
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Last updated: 12/03/2012
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