Megan Kirk Chang, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. As a clinician scientist, public speaker, educator, and certified yoga and mindfulness facilitator, Megan specializes in designing clinical programs that promote embodied self-awareness and social-emotional regulation for adults exposed to extreme stress, burnout, and trauma. Her research focuses on three areas: 1) the neuroscience of chronic stress and PTSD on the brain and body, 2) evaluating the effectiveness of culturally-responsive, evidence-based online mindfulness-based interventions for clinical PTSD, and 3) understanding the psychophysiological mechanisms through which mindfulness meditation restores autonomic nervous system function.

Megan led the first NIH registered clinical trial in Canada to evaluate the utility of an 8-week online CBT, mindfulness meditation, and trauma-informed yoga (CBT-MY) intervention for young adults with clinical anxiety and PTSD. She has a special interest in the use of wearable health technology (e.g., pupillometry, heart-rate-variability) in her clinical research to profile psychophysiological changes in autonomic regulation.

Megan graduated with her Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Health Sciences from York University in 2021 while also concurrently completing an advanced doctoral diploma specialization in Health Psychology. Megan is the recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research federal scholarship and received a Lieutenant Governor’s Award nomination for an outstanding dissertation in the field of health behavior change.

Megan has worked in a variety of Canadian healthcare settings including the University Health Network, Cancer Care Ontario, Hospice Palliative Care, and the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. You can follow Megan on the Insight Timer App, the #1 free meditation app for sleep, anxiety, and stress, and access her free guided meditations, live yoga classes, and 15-day self-guided course, "The Wisdom of Our Wounds: Healing from Trauma."