Tina Cheng, MD, MPH, named chair of Pediatrics

Tina L. Cheng, MD, MPH, has been appointed chair of the Department of Pediatrics, UC College of Medicine; chief medical officer at Cincinnati Children’s; and director, Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation. With this appointment and approval by the boards of the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s, she succeeds Margaret “Peggy” Hostetter, MD, in the role and will become the ninth B.K. Rachford Memorial Chair in Pediatrics.

Cheng’s selection comes following an international search that attracted candidates of the highest caliber with broad and deep experience in the field of pediatrics and child health, according to Lara Danziger-Isakov, MD, MPH, and Raphael Kopan, PhD, who co-chaired the Search Committee.

“Dr. Cheng stood out among the sitting Chairs we interviewed with her great advocacy experience at the national level and a thoughtful and inclusive style of leadership. She clearly captivated the Cincinnati Children’s community during her visit and generated a strong and positive response,” said Kopan.

Cheng is currently the Given Foundation Professor of Pediatrics and director of the Department of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She also serves as the Pediatrician-in-Chief of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Charlotte Bloomberg Children’s Center, and director of Pediatrics for Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Cheng grew up in Coralville, Iowa, the middle daughter of a kindergarten teacher and a biochemist. “I knew from an early age that I wanted to go into medicine,” she said. Cheng did her undergraduate work at Brown University and earned her MD there in 1986. She completed her pediatric residency at the University of California, San Francisco, including a year as Chief Resident at San Francisco General Hospital. She went on to get her master’s in public health (Epidemiology) and do a preventive medicine residency at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a fellowship in general academic pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

Cheng is deeply committed to high-impact clinical and basic research and strengthening the pediatric research pipeline and infrastructure. She is passionate about teaching the next generation of clinicians, educators and investigators; stimulating innovation to meet the needs of patients through digital health strategies, and developing high-reliability systems for patient-, family- and community-centered care.

Cheng is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), past chair of the Committee on Pediatric Research of the American Academy of Pediatrics and past president of the Academic Pediatric Association. She serves on the National Advisory Panel of the NIH All of Us Research Program, a historic effort to gather data from 1 million Americans to accelerate research and improve health through precision medicine. And for 15 years, she has been a principal investigator of the NIH-funded P20 DC Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities, where she has developed award-winning, community-integrated models of care to address the needs of vulnerable families.

Said Michael Fisher, president and CEO, “Dr. Cheng has built a distinguished career filled with outstanding accomplishments as a pediatrician, researcher, educator and executive. More importantly, she is a caring human being, a champion for children and families, an advocate for faculty, and a visionary in her field. We are beyond excited to add her talent and passion to our team. Together, we have the opportunity of a lifetime to make an enormous difference in the health and wellbeing of the children of Cincinnati and the world.”

Andrew Filak Jr., dean of the UC College of Medicine, added, “I look forward to working with Dr. Cheng and am convinced she will continue to build upon and strengthen the partnership between the College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s. She will be a welcome addition to the College of Medicine as chair of the Department of Pediatrics.”

Said Hector Wong, MD, interim chair of Pediatrics, “Dr. Cheng possesses all of the qualities necessary to serve the complex and simultaneous roles of chair of Pediatrics, director of the Research Foundation, and Chief Medical Officer. In addition, she will be a servant leader who will measure her own success by that of the faculty and Cincinnati Children’s. I look forward to working under her leadership.”

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cheng’s transition to her new role will take place this fall, when she is set to begin her duties no later than December 1.