Tina L. Cheng, MD, MPH

Tina Cheng, MD, MPH, is the B.K. Rachford Professor and Chair of Pediatrics for the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation, and chief medical officer at Cincinnati Children’s, a nonprofit, comprehensive pediatric health system ranked #1 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 list of best children’s hospitals in the nation, and the #2 recipient of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Her clinical work, teaching, research and advocacy focus on child, adolescent and family perspectives on improving health, as well as community-integrated models to interrupt the intergenerational cycle of disadvantage, and innovation for excellent and equitable health outcomes.

Cheng was previously chair of pediatrics and pediatrician-in-chief at Johns Hopkins University. For 15 years, she co-led the National Institutes of Health-funded DC-Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities. Cheng also co-led the establishment of two clinical and research innovation centers at Johns Hopkins—the Rales Center on the Integration of Health and Education and Johns Hopkins Center for Salud/(Health) and Opportunity for Latinos (Centro SOL).

An author of over 200 publications, Cheng has been the principal investigator on numerous federal and foundation grants, including grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Cheng received her medical degree from Brown University, and completed her pediatrics residency and chief residency at the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital. Cheng received her master’s degree in public health in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her preventive medicine residency at UC Berkeley and her fellowship in academic general pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts.

A past president of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA), Cheng has held leadership roles in organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs, and Children’s Hospital Association. She has been recognized with the AAP Education Award, Job Lewis Smith Award for Community Pediatrics, APA Public Policy and Advocacy Award, and membership in the National Academy of Medicine and Forum for Children’s Well-Being.