Geisinger presents Henry Hood Award for Clinical and Research Excellence

DANVILLE, Pa. – Geisinger presented the 2024 Henry Hood Award for Clinical and Research Excellence to Alexander Chang, M.D., M.S., associate professor in the Departments of Nephrology and Population Health Sciences and co-director of Geisinger’s Center for Kidney Health Research, during a ceremony in Danville Monday evening.
 
Dr. Chang is a nephrologist and clinician-scientist who has dedicated his career to preventing and decreasing the burden of chronic kidney disease and cardiometabolic complications. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, and he has contributed to more than 150 peer-reviewed publications on kidney disease and cardiometabolic health.
 
Over the past several years, he has become a leader in defining the genetic causes of kidney disease, and since 2019 has served as co-director of Geisinger’s Polycystic Kidney Disease Center of Excellence, the first institution in Pennsylvania to achieve this recognition for adult patients. Dr. Chang also fosters education and clinical excellence at Geisinger, serving as a mentor for many Geisinger fellows, residents and medical students.
 
“Receiving this award is the greatest honor of my career and reaffirms my commitment to fighting kidney disease,” Dr. Chang said.
 
Dr. Chang earned a B.S. in Biology and his medical degree from the Ohio State University. He completed an internship and residency, as well as a fellowship in nephrology, at Loyola University Medical Center, and earned an M.S. in Clinical Research Methods from Loyola University. After completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, he was recruited to Geisinger as an Abigail Geisinger Clinical Investigator.
 
In addition to his clinical duties, including inpatient consultation, outpatient nephrology and hypertension clinics, Dr. Chang has led efforts across the Geisinger system to improve the management of hypertension.
 
The Henry Hood Award was established by Geisinger’s board of directors in honor of Henry L. Hood, M.D. Dr. Hood founded Geisinger’s Department of Neurosurgery and served as president and chief executive officer of Geisinger Medical Center from 1974 until his retirement in 1991. The award recognizes Dr. Hood’s dedication to excellence through clinical practice and state-of-the art research that advanced and enhanced patient care.
 
The award includes a prize of $50,000 to be used to advance clinical care through research, innovation and education at Geisinger. This monetary award is made possible by an endowed gift from Ken Langone, former Geisinger board member, and his wife Elaine.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country.  Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.