Dr. Shirley S. Chang, MD

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• Albuminuria and diabetic nephropathy.

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Get to know Nephrologist Dr. Shirley S. Chang, who serves patients in Buffalo, New York.

Dr. Chang is a leading member of the nephrology clinical staff at ECMC’s Regional Center of Excellence for Transplantation and Kidney Care. 

“At the Regional Center of Excellence for Transplantation and Kidney Care at ECMC, we are equipped to treat patients at every stage of kidney disease or kidney failure. Our transplant program has offered kidney transplants since 1964 and pancreas transplants since 2004. Our experienced multidisciplinary team serves our community with consistently high scores in outcomes and transplant rates from deceased donors, and also offers laparoscopic donor nephrectomy procedures to promote faster recovery for live kidney donors” as stated on their website. 

Teaching the next generation of doctors and researching to advance care in WNY and beyond, Dr. Chang is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Nephrology Department at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences where she is also the Director of the Transplant Nephrology Fellowship Program. 

Previously, she served as an assistant professor at the University of Vermont and at the State University of New York, Brooklyn. 

Throughout her academic career, Dr. Chang graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, with honors, from the University of Maryland, College Park. She then went on to earn her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Maryland, College Park and her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 

Upon graduation, she performed her combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. She subsequently pursued a fellowship in nephrology, internal medicine, and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, and a fellowship in transplant nephrology at the University of Buffalo in New York.

With a clinical focus on renal transplantation, the doctor is board-certified in internal medicine and nephrology by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). The ABIM is a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization driven by doctors who want to achieve higher standards for better care in a rapidly changing world. 

In addition to being a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology, Dr. Chang is a member of the American Medical Association, the International Society of Nephrology, the American College of Physicians, the American Society of Apheresis, the American Society of Transplantation, and the National Kidney Foundation. 

Among her service activities, she is an Alternate Delegate of UNOS Region 9 (2013 – present), a member of the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Disease Community of Practice (2013 – present), a member of the American Society of Transplantation Live Donor Community of Practice (2013 – present), a member of the American Society of Transplantation Trainee and Young Faculty Community of Practice (2013 – present), a member of the American Society of Transplantation Women’s Health Community of Practice (2013 – present), and a member of Women in Nephrology (2012 – present).

Nephrology is a specialty of medicine that concerns itself with the kidneys. It is the study of normal kidney function and kidney disease, the preservation of kidney health, and the treatment of kidney disease, from diet and medication to renal replacement therapy. Nephrologists have advanced training in treating kidney disease. They diagnose and treat kidney failure, as well as help patients by prescribing medications, offering special diet advice, and coordinating dialysis care or kidney transplantation when it becomes necessary.

Well-published in medical journals and abstracts, Dr. Chang has research interests in kidney transplantation and cardiovascular disease. 

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