Executive Director, Digestive Health Institute Medical Director, Chao Family Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center Division Chief, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of California, Irvine
Kenneth J. Chang is the founding Executive Director of the Chao Family Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center (CDDC) as well as the newly established Digestive Health Institute (DHI) at the University of California, Irvine. He is also Professor and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Dr. Chang’s clinical research for over three decades has focused on developing and expanding the field of interventional gastrointestinal endoscopy with a specific focus on digestive malignancies and precancerous lesions. Being first to term “Interventional Endoscopy” and “Interventional EUS” in 1997, he has continuously brought novel disruptive technologies to the field, including Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS)-guided Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) for cancer diagnosis and staging, Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) in the treatment of Barrett’s esophagus, EUS-guided Portal Pressure Gradient (EUS-PPG) measurement for patients with suspected liver cirrhosis, and Endoscopic Treatment for Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Dr. Chang holds the Vincent and Anna Kong Chair in Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Oncology and has published over 470 peer-review articles, review papers, book chapters and abstracts, as well as Editor of 4 textbooks. These scientific publications include 5 major topics: EUS-guided tissue acquisition, new diagnostic approaches to Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasia, Endo-Hepatology, GERD/Barrett’s Esophagus, and 3rd-space endoscopy (myotomy and cancer resection).
Over the past decade, Dr. Chang has focused on pre-cancerous conditions of the Digestive System (Barrett’s Esophagus and Pancreatic Cysts) with the goal to improve detection, risk stratification, and clinical strategies that culminate in a personalized approach toward treatment and cure. He also views acid reflux and obesity as being precursors (pre-pre-cancer) to malignancy and has developed impactful, minimally invasive procedures to manage both.
In addition to his expertise in GI malignancies and Barrett’s, he is also an expert in Per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) in the treatment of Achalasia, endoscopic submucosal resection (ESD) of early cancers and Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) for obesity. He is also an authority on Trans-oral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF) in the treatment of GERD. Over the past 3 decades, he has been privileged to train 44 national and international advanced fellows who he holds dearly as his extended family.
