Dr. Melissa Chang calls SAGES membership a way of staying connected to her “extended family.” Dr. Chang initially joined SAGES as a Mount Sinai Hospital resident and Candidate member in 2017, later upgrading to Active membership as a way to stay connected to her many professional mentors at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, among them Drs. Pat Sylla, Brian Jacob and Dan Popowich.
As a member of SAGES Colorectal Facebook group, California native Dr. Chang co-moderated a webinar, “Colorectal Cancer Care Delivery in the Era of COVID-19” in April 2020. She says, “Being part of this group provides a great resource to present findings and share expertise, allowing participants to engage and respond in real time.”
Dr. Chang attends and is actively involved in every SAGES meeting, co-chairing a millennial session at the SAGES 2019 meeting in Seattle that explored work life balance and surgical coaching for younger surgeons and chairing a session highlighting complex Facebook cases from the Facebook Masters Collaborations at the virtual 2020 meeting. She has her fingers crossed for an in person 2021 because they are “super fun,” and provide a sense of community that’s lost with pre-recorded sessions. She was happy to participate in the Peloton Happy Hour organized by Dr. Laura Doyon at the virtual 2020 meeting with the hashtag #SAGES2020.
A graduate of Tufts Medical School, Dr. Chang completed her fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.