Ph.D. Candidate, RAND School of Public Policy; Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND
Joan Chang is a graduating Ph.D. candidate at the RAND School of Public Policy and an assistant policy researcher at RAND. Previously, she taught primary schoolchildren in East Asia and studied sciences and humanities in the United States before supporting economic initiatives in East Africa and community health care in South Asia. Her professional experience includes fieldwork with native elders through the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences and Tribal Health Initiative, medical scientific research and AI guideline development, policy communications at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and humanitarian partnerships and grantmaking for people in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
With formal training in academia and policy, she earned certificates in Japan and Taiwan and graduate degrees in the United States with recognition for scholarship including the Best Student Paper at the Global Healthcare Conference. Her comparative analysis of the political economy of international health finance for women and children is supported by RAND Health and the Atsuhiko Tateuchi Foundation. Between studies she was appointed to nonprofit leadership roles in aid and advocacy, managing stakeholder teams and major philanthropy projects, and now directs the Stanford Lancet Series on improving foreign engagement. Her efforts contribute to interdisciplinary collaboration with the World Bank, Rotary Foundation, Georgetown University, MIT, social nonprofits, government departments, foreign ministries, and U.N. agencies. With relevant experience in health and well-being, technology and innovation, peace and security, development and diplomacy, and law and policy, her strategic advising and analysis guide teamwork in organizations and programs.
M.Phil. in public policy analysis, RAND School of Public Policy; M.S. in global health, UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences; B.S. in sciences, UC Berkeley
