Qiang Chang graduated from Peking University with a B.S. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology and obtained his Ph.D. degree in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He received postdoctoral training on mouse genetics and neurological diseases in the laboratory of Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Chang is currently a professor of medical genetics and neurology and the director of the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His laboratory uses mouse models and human stem cell models to study brain development and neurodevelopmental conditions, with a focus on Rett syndrome.