.jpg)
Resident physician
Tower Health PM&R Program
My name is Chin-Hen Chang(M.D.), a physical medicine and rehabilitation resident in Reading Hospital, Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Taiwan, I came to the U.S. for residency with a dream of becoming a team physiatrist for a professional sports team as my career.
I have been watching all kinds of sports since childhood, and baseball has always been my favorite. After watching years of baseball, I gradually developed a keen sense of the game and during junior high school, I was our sports team’s coach. During these experiences, I saw many players try to return to the game and help their team before they had fully recovered from their injury without considering the consequences of doing so. In addition, by watching professional sports, I have learned that there are numerous athletes every year who are unable to continue their career because of injuries. Knowing about the influence of such injuries into a sportsman’s life had a huge impact on me, which has led me to develop a genuine interest in sports medicine. I believe that sport injuries should never be taken lightly and it is important to promote this notion to everyone. While growing up, I decided that having a profession involved with sports medicine is the career best suited for me.
PM&R is not a specialty that is easy to get into for non U.S. physicians. I did not match PM&R the first time I participated in the Match. However, my enthusiasm for this specialty motivated me to not give up and I successfully matched into PM&R the next year. I feel blessed to have the chance to become a physiatrist and I promise myself to become a physiatrist that not only brings more time in one’s life, but brings more life into one’s time.