Jeanette K. Chang, M.D., was born in Washington, DC, and raised in Allentown, PA.  She graduated with Honors from Brown University in Providence, RI.  She obtained her medical degree at Tufts University in Boston, MA, and remained at Tufts/New England Medical Center Hospitals for her residency in General Surgery.  As chief resident, she received the Oliver Smith Award, for “excellence, compassion, and service; for extraordinary service and caring,” and the Ralph Deterling Award, “for the strongest clinical performance by a senior resident, including the most consistent quality of care, best bedside manner, and greatest kindness shown towards his or her patients.”
Subsequently, Dr. Chang was a fellow in vascular surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, where she underwent additional training in open surgical and endovascular techniques.  During her fellowship, Dr. Chang was involved in clinical research and presented her work at numerous local, regional and national meetings.
As a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, Dr. Chang is board certified in both General Surgery and Vascular Surgery. Dr. Chang joined Commonwealth Surgical Associates in 2002.

CLINICAL INTERESTS:

Dr. Chang specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease, both arterial and venous. Her therapeutic repertoire includes carotid artery surgery for the treatment and/or prevention of stroke; repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm, both with the traditional open surgical approach and the less-invasive endovascular technique; lower extremity revascularization using a combination of angioplasty/stents and bypass surgery; dialysis access for patients with kidney failure; and numerous treatments for varicose and spider veins, including radiofrequency ablation (the VNUS procedure), phlebectomy, and sclerotherapy.  She also treats patients with chronic edema and wounds secondary to lymphedema and other vascular pathology.

Upon her arrival at Commonwealth Surgical Associates, Dr. Chang introduced endovascular surgery to the practice, broadening the scope of procedures offered.  Catheter-based techniques have made it possible to take a less invasive approach to treating conditions that in the past could only be addressed with surgery.  She has performed the first endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in a community hospital in this area (see Patient Profile: Vascular Surgery - Minimally invasive procedure for abdominal aortic aneurysm). *

She is also interested in using ultrasonography, a non-invasive imaging modality, in the screening for and surveillance of vascular disease. Dr. Chang is an interpreting physician at the vascular labs of Winchester Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and Mystic Cardiology Associates.  Commonwealth Surgical Associates also has a vascular lab on site.

* Download the entire Fall 2005 issue of Perspective Magazine
   here