About

Michelle Chang is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she directs JaJa Co and teaches architectural design. She founded her independent practice in 2014 after working in offices in New York, Boston, and San Francisco. Her design work experiments with the overlaps between film, installation, music, teaching, and building. Chang holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard GSD and a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from Johns Hopkins University. She is a former MacDowell Colony Fellow, Wortham Fellow, and a recipient of the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers. Her work has been exhibited at prominent venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. In her research, Chang studies the techniques and histories of architectural representation, specifically investigating how optics, digital media, and modes of cultural production influence translations between design and building. Her recent writings focus on noise and vagueness. Before joining Harvard GSD, she taught at Rice University, UC Berkeley, California College of the Arts, and Northeastern University.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Immunology
• Virology
• Oncology
• Pathology
• Surgery
• Dermatology

Selected publications

• Racial and ethnic disparities in postnatal growth of infants born before 30 weeks of gestation

  Journal of Perinatology · 2026-02-04

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Racial and ethnic disparities in postnatal growth of infants born before 30 weeks of gestation

  Research Square · 2025-09-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Rare case of CD20-positive primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, NOS, with an aggressive clinical course

  Journal of Clinical Pathology · 2025-05-16

  letter
  PublisherDOI

• The Effect of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs on Union Rates Following Operative Repair of Distal Radius Fractures

  Journal of Hand Surgery Global Online · 2025-05-21 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Purpose: Multimodal pain regimens for controlling postoperative pain after surgery for fractures often include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). However, some surgeons remain reluctant toward prescribing NSAIDs because of concerns of compromised bone healing. The study hypothesis was that a short-term prescription of NSAIDs for postoperative pain after distal radius fracture repair would not result in a significant difference in union rates. Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent surgical repair of a distal radius fracture with a volar locking plate from a single academic institution with five hand surgery fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons were retrospectively reviewed. The cohort was divided into those prescribed +NSAIDs and those who were not (-NSAIDs) postoperatively. Preoperative patient characteristics and postoperative pain regimens were recorded. Comparisons between the two groups were made based on the primary outcome being union rate and other secondary outcomes, including time to union and number of opioid tablets prescribed. Results: Four hundred and ninety-four patients were included in the final analysis, of which 115 were prescribed +NSAIDs, and 379 were not (-NSAIDs). Preoperative demographics and comorbidities were balanced between groups. A similar proportion of patients were prescribed some type of opioid. However, the +NSAIDs group was prescribed a fewer number of opioid tablets. The overall nonunion rate was 1.2%. Of these cases, two were in the +NSAIDs group, and four were in the -NSAIDs group. There was no difference in union rate between the two groups. Conclusions: The prescribing of NSAIDs after volar locking plate fixation of distal radius fractures was not associated with an increased nonunion rate in this study. This study may alleviate concerns that NSAIDs might jeopardize fracture healing when used postoperatively as part of a multimodal pain regimen following distal radius fracture repair. Type of study/level of evidence: Prognostic IV.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Common spine codes are reimbursed 13% less by Medicaid compared to Medicare, ranging from 46% to 160% by state

  North American Spine Society Journal (NASSJ) · 2025-01-18 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Background: Medicare reimbursement for spine procedures has been decreasing, and it is well-established that Medicaid reimburses physicians even less than Medicare. This study seeks to provide an updated analysis of Medicaid reimbursement using 24 common spine procedure codes. Methods: Medicaid rates were obtained from state online fee schedules, and Medicare rates from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid online fee database. Rates were compared directly to each other by state and averaged to reflect national differences. The Medicare Wage Index was used to control for variability in wages between states and was used to adjust Medicaid data for comparison. Variability between states and codes was quantified using coefficient of variation values. Results: Medicaid reimbursement was lower than Medicare for all 24 included Current Procedural Terminology codes. Nationally, Medicaid rates were 13% less than Medicare, and this difference increased to 25% when adjusting for wage differences. Average cost differences were -$118 per code. Substantial variability between states and codes was also found for Medicaid, while little variability in Medicare rates existed. Conclusions: We found that Medicaid reimbursement to surgeons for 24 common spine surgeons was 13% less than Medicare on average. This difference increased to 25% when adjusting for wage differences. For Medicaid, wide variability existed between states and between different codes, indicating that some state payment systems may lack objective metrics when determining rates.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 62744 NRAS tumor mutations are associated with reduced odds of dermatologic adverse events in patients with metastatic melanoma receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors

  Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · 2025-09-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Skin Cancer Care in US Veterans—Serving Those Who Served

  JAMA Dermatology · 2024-09-04 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Mucosal ulcers, extremity nodules, and fevers

  JAAD Case Reports · 2024-11-07

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on sun habits of patients with melanoma: a cross-sectional study

  Archives of Dermatological Research · 2024-05-24

  letter
  PublisherDOI

• Declining Medicare reimbursement in spinal imaging: a 15-year review

  Skeletal Radiology · 2024-09-06

  reviewSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Rebecca I. Hartman

  Brigham and Women's Hospital

  87 shared

• Liliana Goumnerova

  39 shared

• Pratiti Bandopadhayay

  Broad Institute

  39 shared

• Keith L. Ligon

  39 shared

• Marian H. Harris

  University of Minnesota Medical Center

  39 shared

• Shakti Ramkissoon

  LabCorp (United States)

  39 shared

• Katherine A. Janeway

  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

  38 shared

• Mariella G. Filbin

  Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center

  38 shared

Education

• M.A., Architectural Design

  Harvard Graduate School of Design

Awards & honors

• MacDowell Colony Fellow
• Wortham Fellow
• Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers