Megan Kirk Chang
BA, MA, PG Dip, PhD
Senior Researcher, Behavioural Medicine & Mental Health
- Mental Health Subtheme Lead, Oxford Health BRC Preventing Multiple Morbidities Theme
- NIHR Team Science Primary Investigator
- CHiMES Team, Department of Psychiatry
Integrating Primary Care and Psychiatry
Megan Kirk Chang is a Senior Researcher at the University of Oxford in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. Megan holds a PhD in Kinesiology and Health Sciences and an Advanced Doctoral Diploma in Health Psychology from York University, Toronto, Canada. She has held a Postdoctoral Associate position at the Yale School of Medicine. With two decades of experience in academic and healthcare settings (e.g., CAMH, Toronto General Hospital) across Canada, the USA, and now the UK, Megan excels in leading interdisciplinary research involving complex multi-site, NIH-registered health behaviour trials for adults with multiple long-term conditions, particularly exploring the combined effects of diet, exercise, mindfulness, yoga, and sleep on objective blood biomarkers, and mental and physical health outcomes.
As a Senior Researcher on the Oxford Health BRC Preventing Multiple Morbidities theme, Megan works collaboratively across the Departments of Primary Care and Psychiatry leading a subtheme focused on developing health behaviour change interventions for adults with mental illness to reduce non-communicable disease risk factors. This includes managing a large project portfolio, developing effective multidisciplinary collaborations, and overseeing BRC multi-site operations. Megan has successfully designed and executed complex clinical trials integrating explanatory psychobiological mechanistic measures of gut-microbiome, morning cortisol, pupil reactivity and heart-rate-variability (HRV) self-monitoring into existing protocols including the following:
Current Projects:
- DIME Trial: Ketogenic Diet for Treatment Resistant Depression
- PREV-D Research Programme: Lifestyle Patterns of Sleep, Diet, Exercise, and Mental Health in Adults at Risk of Dementia
- NIHR Team Science: Development of a Precision Medicine Tool to Measure Quality of Life in Adults with Multiple Long-Term Conditions
- Diet & Cognition Meta-Regression
International Projects:
- AINGEL Project: Using artificial intelligence to learn predictors of success in primary care management plans for adults with CVD and diabetes [University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA]
- PADES Trial: Prevention of Attrition in Doctoral Education Students: A Randomised Controlled Trial to reduce Academic Stress and Increase Productivity [York University, CANADA and UC San Diego, USA]
For DPhil inquiries, please contact Megan with your CV and a proposed project.
Research Interests:
- Metabolic psychiatry clinical trials for adults with trauma, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and psychosis
- Individual-Level behavioural interventions (stand-alone and multi-component)
- Physical activity, exercise, movement, yoga, mindfulness, breath, diet, sleep intervention design
- Digital health and wearable technology
- Autonomic nervous system function, emotion dysregulation
- Measurement of emotion regulation
- Behavioural Medicine and behaviour change theory
- Mixed-methods research design
- Advanced multi-level modelling for clinical trials
- Systematic reviews and meta-analysis, meta-regression, network meta-analysis
Beyond academia, Megan leads the “CuppaCoach” sessions to offer mentorship and professional development for Oxford EMCRs in grant application revisions, interview preparation, and navigating challenging career decisions. She is also a College Advisor to eight graduate students at Kellogg College and values supporting a positive culture in academia.
As a certified mindfulness instructor with a large global following on the Insight Timer app, you can follow Megan and access her free guided meditations and 15-day self-guided course, "The Wisdom of Our Wounds: Healing from Trauma" that currently has over 23 500 students across the world!
Websites
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Insight Timer 15-Day Trauma Healing Course
The Wisdom of Our Wounds: Healing from Trauma
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Insight Timer Guided Meditations
Megan Kirk Chang Teacher Profile
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ARC East Midlands "Chronic Conversations" Podcast Episode
Connecting mental and physical health for people with multiple long-term conditions
Recent publications
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Evaluating the efficacy and mechanisms of a ketogenic diet as adjunctive treatment for people with treatment-resistant depression: A protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Journal article
Gao M. et al, (2024), Journal of Psychiatric Research, 174, 230 - 236
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Effectiveness of behavioural interventions incorporating motivational interviewing to increase physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Journal article
SuFen Z. et al, (2024), The BMJ
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Effectiveness of behavioural interventions with motivational interviewing on physical activity outcomes in adults: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Journal article
Zhu SF. et al, (2024), BMJ
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The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions
Journal article
Cipriano C. et al, (2023), Child Development, 94, 1181 - 1204
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Clinical Assessment of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in Memory Distress: Protocol for a Double-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial.
Journal article
Babaei N. et al, (2023), JMIR Res Protoc, 12
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A Web-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness Meditation, and Yoga Intervention for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Single-Arm Experimental Clinical Trial.
Journal article
Kirk MA. et al, (2022), JMIR Ment Health, 9
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Effectiveness of online cognitive behavioral interventions that include mindfulness for clinically-diagnosed anxiety and depressive disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Journal article
Kirk MA. et al, (2022), INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH, 51, 235 - 266
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Integrated Physical Activity Campaign With Wearable Devices and Practitioner Consultation
Journal article
Ritvo P. et al, (2021), JAMA Network Open, 4, e2116671 - e2116671
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Meaning in life and vagally-mediated heart rate variability: Evidence of a quadratic relationship at baseline and vagal reactivity differences.
Journal article
Dang K. et al, (2021), Int J Psychophysiol, 165, 101 - 111
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Online Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Intervention for Youth With Major Depressive Disorders: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Journal article
Ritvo P. et al, (2021), J Med Internet Res, 23