Cindy J. Chang, M.D., FAMSSM, FACSM
Clinical Professor, Primary Care Sports Medicine, Departments of Orthopaedics and Family & Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
For over three decades Dr. Chang has specialized in the sports medicine care of children and adults, preventing, diagnosing, and treating injuries and illnesses related to exercise and sports participation.
Dr. Chang attended The Ohio State University (OSU) for her undergraduate and medical school education, then completed her residency in Family Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) before returning to OSU for her fellowship in Sports Medicine. She remained on the OSU family medicine faculty as Assistant Residency Director and Assistant Team Physician for the OSU Buckeyes until moving back to California to serve as the University of California-Berkeley’s Head Team Physician for Cal’s 27 athletic teams including football; during her tenure there the program added women’s programs in golf, water polo and lacrosse. In 2015 Dr. Chang joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where she founded its Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship and served as its first Program Director. She was also founder and Co-Director of the Sports Concussion Program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Chang was part of the USA medical team for the Winter Paralympic Games in Nagano, Japan in 1998 and in Salt Lake City in 2002. She served as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the USA athlete delegation at the 2007 Parapan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing, and then the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In July 2020, Dr. Chang assisted in establishing medical operations and provided care to all players and staff in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) “Wubble”.
In 2022, Dr. Chang was named as the first CMO of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), overseeing league medical operations and protocols, and building on best practices for athlete health, safety and wellbeing including guidance on improved strategies for injury management, rehabilitation, and preventative care. Now as UCSF Professor Emerita, Dr. Chang maintains an active teaching and mentorship role and continues to assist with sports coverage including local high schools, the Bay Breakers of Women’s Elite Rugby (WER), and marathons and other mass participation events. She also provides volunteer care as a sports medicine consultant for Cal and as a team physician for US Rowing and member of the US Rowing Medical and Sport Science Committee.
Dr. Chang serves as chair of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) and on the National Football League (NFL) General Medical Committee and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Women’s Health Task Force. She is also on the Sports Advisory Council of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, the Board of Directors of the Women’s Health, Sports & Performance (WHSP) Institute, and the Advisory Boards of the Korey Stringer Institute (KSI), For All Mothers+, and the Berkeley Institute for Security and Governance (BISG) Women’s Health and Performance Initiative (WHPI). She founded and leads Berkeley Rep Rx, a volunteer medical network for visiting actors and musicians at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and is the founder and president of GameCHANGer Sports Medicine, Inc.
Dr. Chang has received numerous awards and recognition for her service and leadership. In 2003 she was honored with the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) Founders Award, given to a sports medicine physician who demonstrates outstanding professional achievement and service to the community, and in 2013 she received the United States Sports Academy’s Dr. Ernst Jokl Sports Medicine Award for contributions to the growth and development of sport medicine through practice and/or scholarly activity, with past award recipients including Sir Roger Bannister and Dr. Jimmy Andrews. In 2016, she was honored with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Jack Weakley Award of Distinction that honors a non-athletic trainer for a lifetime of outstanding contributions that directly impact health care in athletics, athletic training, or sports medicine and are of major and lasting importance. In 2022 Dr. Chang received the ACSM Citation Award for significant contributions to the fields of sports medicine and exercise science. She was awarded the NATA Honorary Membership in 2024 for profound interest in and significant contributions to the profession of athletic training, with a dedication to advancing, promoting and championing the efforts of the NATA and its members.
Dr. Chang was a four-year member of the Board of Directors for AMSSM and later served as its President in 2011-2012. She is an AMSSM Fellow and currently an AMSSM Foundation board member. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and was elected to ACSM Board of Trustees in 2017.
