Edward F. Chang is the Jeanne Robertson Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Chair of Neurological Surgery at UCSF, Co-Director of the Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses at the University of California, Berkeley and UCSF, the Bowes Biomedical Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholar, and the Chief of Epilepsy and Pain Neurosurgery at the UCSF Epilepsy Center.

He specializes in neurosurgical techniques for intractable epilepsy and is a leader in utilizing advanced brain-mapping methods to preserve crucial areas for speech and motor functions in the brain. He also has extensive experience with implantable devices that stimulate specific nerves to relieve seizure, movement, pain and other disorders.

Chang directs a clinical research program that is dedicated to improving long-term outcomes and safety of surgical treatments for patients with medically refractory epilepsy. Through his research efforts, he has also pioneered the use of high-density intracranial recordings to investigate the basic neural mechanisms that underlie human speech perception and production.

He was awarded the Blavatnik National Laureate for Life Sciences in 2015 and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020, an honor that recognizes outstanding achievements and service in the fields of medical sciences, health care and public health.

As a SFARI Investigator, he seeks to address fundamental questions about the neural representation of speech and language in people with autism and epilepsy. Findings from this research will help to advance our understanding of alterations in neural processing in autism and lead to better strategies for targeted behavior-based remediation.