Victor Chang - Education and Medical Training

Education and Medical Training

Chang was born in Shanghai to Australian-born parents. He grew up in Hong Kong where he attended primary school in Kowloon Tong and spent two years in St. Paul's College. He moved to Australia in 1953 where he attended Belmore Boys High School and completed his secondary education at Christian Brothers' High School. In 1960, he graduated as a Bachelor of Medical Science with first class honours at the University of Sydney and with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1962. With heart surgeon Mark Shanahan as his teacher, Chang worked for two years as an intern in St Vincent's Hospital before Shanahan sent him to England to train with London surgeon Aubrey York Mason.

Chang became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1966 and trained in cardiothoracic surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital. In London, he met and married his wife Ann (née Simmons). He spent two years in the United States at the Mayo Clinic and became chief resident. In 1972, he returned to St Vincent's Hospital, where he was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and was appointed Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1973 and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1975.