Eileen Chang PhD, MCR

Background 

Eileen Chang, PhD, MCR, received her BS from Georgia Institute of Technology, her PhD from University of Florida College of Medicine and her MCR from Oregon Health and Science University. Since she first learned about fetal programming, she has had an interest in uncovering the root cause of the developmental origins of health and disease in the heart. 

Research + Funding 

In 2022, Dr. Chang received the Jacqueline Leaffer Wish for the Heart Award funded by the Ludeman Center for her research project, “Novel Flow Cytometry Analysis of Cardiomyocyte Proliferation, Differentiation, and Maturation in the Growth-Restricted Female Fetuses.” The objective of this project is to identify mechanisms that drive heart cell growth and development in a growth-restricted fetus and to identify whether there are sex differences that underlie the fetal heart growth and maturation process. This work stems from the discovery that when a developing fetus is faced with placental insufficiency, nutrient and oxygen flow become inadequate to meet the energy demands for growth, the fetus suffers growth restriction in the womb. This condition occurs in 10% of all pregnancies and is associated with adult-onset heart disease and diabetes. During Dr. Chang’s research, they developed a novel flow cytometry analysis method that used targeted antibodies to systematically categorize and measure primary heart cells at various stages of development.  

With the support of the Ludeman Center, Dr. Chang received research support and career development workshops as well as mentoring for herself and other early-career researchers invested in women's and children's health. 

Transforming Women’s Health 

In recognizing that women with hypertension, diabetes, or obesity are at a higher risk to have pregnancies with growth-restricted fetuses, she wants her research to make these women's and children's hearts stronger so they can all have a healthier and longer life.  

 Her current research priority focus is on cardiomyocyte metabolism in growth-restricted fetuses, specifically, examining the mitochondrial function and determining sex differences.