Jing Cheng, MD, MS, PhD
Professor
Preventive & Restor Dent Sci
School of Dentistry

She is also the Director of Statistics and Informatics Core at Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, a faculty member in the UCSF Center to Address Disparities in Children’s Oral Health (CAN DO), the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Dr. Cheng is a well-known biostatistician, an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA), and 2020 Chair of the ASA Section on Statistics in Epidemiology. Dr. Cheng is Associate Editor and on editorial board of several scientific journals, and has been invited to provide scientific review for 30 scientific journals, NIH/NIDCR special review panels, and NIH/CSR Clinical Oncology Study Section.

Dr. Cheng earned her medical degree in China, M.S. in nutrition at Cornell University in 2002, and Ph.D. in biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. Before joining UCSF School of Dentistry in 2010, Dr. Cheng was an Assistant Professor in Biostatistics at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine.

Dr. Cheng develops new statistical methods for complex problems in randomized trials and observational studies. Dr. Cheng is principal investigator (PI) of various projects, developing statistical methods to better understand the effects of a treatment or program on health outcomes in studies with challenging problems and the underlying mechanisms of the treatment via biomarkers, behaviors and social factors. Dr. Cheng's researches provide investigators evidence to understand the causal pathway/mechanism of the treatment and improve future programs by tailoring specific components of the treatment in specific populations.

Dr. Cheng also works with investigators in various fields of health sciences, including dentistry and oral diseases, biomedicine, cancer, infectious diseases, pharmacogenomics, nursing, and public policy research, on study design, power analysis, randomization, statistical analysis, and the preparation of grant proposals and manuscripts.

Dr. Cheng's specific research interests include causal inference (instrumental variables and propensity scores) with applications in clinical trials with complex issues, e.g., noncompliance, mediation through intermediate variables (biomarkers, attitude, knowledge, behaviors etc.), missing data, and outcomes only observed in “survivors” etc., and in observational studies with measured and unmeasured confounding, methods for genetic association studies, categorical data analysis, longitudinal data analysis, survey design and analysis, and nonparametric statistics.

• Course and outcome in individuals with atypical anorexia nervosa: Findings from the Study of Refeeding to Optimize iNpatient Gains (StRONG).
  The International journal of eating disorders 2023 Golden NH, Kapphahn CJ, Cheng J, Kreiter A, Downey AE, Accurso EC, Machen VI, Adams SH, Buckelew SM, Moscicki AB, Le Grange D, Garber AK
• Hospital-based higher calorie refeeding and mealtime distress in adolescents and young adults with anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa.
  The International journal of eating disorders 2023 Accurso EC, Cheng J, Machen VI, Buckelew S, Kreiter A, Adams S, Le Grange D, Golden NH, Garber AK
• Chronic E-Cigarette Use Impairs Endothelial Function on the Physiological and Cellular Levels.
  Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology 2022 Mohammadi L, Han DD, Xu F, Huang A, Derakhshandeh R, Rao P, Whitlatch A, Cheng J, Keith RJ, Hamburg NM, Ganz P, Hellman J, Schick SF, Springer ML
• Study protocol for a hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial of the Building Better Caregivers online workshop for rural family/friend caregivers of people living with dementia.
  Contemporary clinical trials 2022 Santoyo-Olsson J, Lorig K, Romo EM, Luzanilla M, Ramirez GA, Cheng J, Chesla C, Covinsky KE, Karliner L, Thompson DG, Fahrenwald N, Yank V
• Renal Function in Patients Hospitalized With Anorexia Nervosa Undergoing Refeeding: Findings From the Study of Refeeding to Optimize Inpatient Gains.
  The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine 2022 Downey AE, Cheng J, Adams SH, Buckelew SM, Kapphahn CJ, Machen VI, Rosen EL, Moscicki AB, Golden NH, Garber AK
• Preferences, use, and perceived access to flavored e-cigarettes among United States adolescents and young adults.
  Drug and alcohol dependence reports 2022 Chaffee BW, Halpern-Felsher B, Croker JA, Werts M, Couch ET, Cheng J
• A SAS macro to calculate power for longitudinal correlated count and zero-inflated count outcome data. https://github.com/JingCheng-UCSF/Power-Calculation-for-Longitudinal-Count-and-Zero-inflated-Count-Data.git
  A SAS macro to calculate power for longitudinal correlated count and zero-inflated count outcome data. https://github.com/JingCheng-UCSF/Power-Calculation-for-Longitudinal-Count-and-Zero-inflated-Count-Data.git 2022 Nancy Cheng and Jing Cheng
• Maczic: Mediation analysis and power calculation for count and zero-inflated count data. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=maczic
  Maczic: Mediation analysis and power calculation for count and zero-inflated count data. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=maczic 2022 Cheng NF, Guo Z, and Cheng J.
• E-cigarette, cannabis and combustible tobacco use: associations with xerostomia among California adolescents.
  Community dentistry and oral epidemiology 2021 Chaffee BW, Halpern-Felsher B, Cheng J
• Adolescents' Substance Use and Physical Activity Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  JAMA pediatrics 2021 Chaffee BW, Cheng J, Couch ET, Hoeft KS, Halpern-Felsher B
• Transmission, infectivity, and neutralization of a spike L452R SARS-CoV-2 variant.
  Cell 2021 Deng X, Garcia-Knight MA, Khalid MM, Servellita V, Wang C, Morris MK, Sotomayor-González A, Glasner DR, Reyes KR, Gliwa AS, Reddy NP, Sanchez San Martin C, Federman S, Cheng J, Balcerek J, Taylor J, …
• Higher-Calorie Refeeding in Anorexia Nervosa: 1-Year Outcomes From a Randomized Controlled Trial.
  Pediatrics 2021 Golden NH, Cheng J, Kapphahn CJ, Buckelew SM, Machen VI, Kreiter A, Accurso EC, Adams SH, Le Grange D, Moscicki AB, Sy AF, Wilson L, Garber AK
• A diagnostic host response biosignature for COVID-19 from RNA profiling of nasal swabs and blood.
  Science advances 2021 Ng DL, Granados AC, Santos YA, Servellita V, Goldgof GM, Meydan C, Sotomayor-Gonzalez A, Levine AG, Balcerek J, Han LM, Akagi N, Truong K, Neumann NM, Nguyen DN, Bapat SP, Cheng J, Martin CS, Federman…
• Short-term Outcomes of the Study of Refeeding to Optimize Inpatient Gains for Patients With Anorexia Nervosa: A Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial.
  JAMA pediatrics 2021 Garber AK, Cheng J, Accurso EC, Adams SH, Buckelew SM, Kapphahn CJ, Kreiter A, Le Grange D, Machen VI, Moscicki AB, Sy A, Wilson L, Golden NH
• Beverage Advertisement Receptivity Associated With Sugary Drink Intake and Harm Perceptions Among California Adolescents.
  American journal of health promotion : AJHP 2020 Chaffee BW, Werts M, White JS, Couch ET, Urata J, Cheng J, Kearns C
• Semiparametric models and inference for the effect of a treatment when the outcome is nonnegative with clumping at zero.
  Biometrics 2020 Cheng J, Small DS
• Association Between Youth Smoking, Electronic Cigarette Use, and COVID-19.
  The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine 2020 Gaiha SM, Cheng J, Halpern-Felsher B
• Monetary incentives for improving smartphone-measured oral hygiene behaviors in young children: A randomized pilot trial.
  PloS one 2020 White JS, Ramos-Gomez F, Liu JX, Jue B, Finlayson TL, Garza JR, Crawford AH, Helman S, Santo W, Cheng J, Kahn JG, Gansky SA
• Correction.
  Statistics in medicine 2020 Baiocchi M, Cheng J, Small D
• Constructing matched groups in dental observational health disparity studies for causal effects
  JDR Clinical & Translational Research. 2020 Cheng J, Gregorich SE, Gansky SA, Fisher-Owens SA, Kottek AM, White JM, and Mertz EA. (2020)
• Weight Loss and Illness Severity in Adolescents With Atypical Anorexia Nervosa.
  Pediatrics 2019 Garber AK, Cheng J, Accurso EC, Adams SH, Buckelew SM, Kapphahn CJ, Kreiter A, Le Grange D, Machen VI, Moscicki AB, Saffran K, Sy AF, Wilson L, Golden NH
• Instrumental variable approach for estimating a causal hazard ratio: application to the effect of postmastectomy radiotherapy on breast cancer patients
  Observational Studies 2019 Yang, F., Cheng, J., and Huo, D. (2019).
• Correction.
  Statistics in medicine 2019 Baiocchi M, Cheng J, Small DS
• Divergent Six Month Functional Recovery Trajectories and Predictors after Traumatic Brain Injury: Novel Insights from the Citicoline Brain Injury Treatment Trial Study.
  Journal of neurotrauma 2019 Gardner RC, Cheng J, Ferguson AR, Boylan R, Boscardin J, Zafonte RD, Manley GT, Citicoline Brain Injury Treatment Trial Investigators
• Caregivers' Knowledge of Sugar and Control Over Children's Sugar Consumption.
  Pediatric dentistry 2019 Kim J, Zhan L, Le T, Cheng J
• Predictors of Smokeless Tobacco Susceptibility, Initiation, and Progression Over Time Among Adolescents in a Rural Cohort.
  Substance use & misuse 2019 Chaffee BW, Couch ET, Urata J, Gansky SA, Essex G, Cheng J
• Mediation analysis for count and zero-inflated count data
  Statistical Methods in Medical Research 2018 Cheng, J., Cheng, N.F., Guo, Z., Gregorich, S., Ismail, A.I., Gansky, S.A.
• Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Perception Differences of Rural Male Youth.
  Tobacco regulatory science 2018 Chaffee BW, Cheng J
• Tobacco product initiation is correlated with cross-product changes in tobacco harm perception and susceptibility: Longitudinal analysis of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health youth cohort.
  Preventive medicine 2018 Chaffee BW, Cheng J
• Instrumental variable analysis in the presence of unmeasured confounding.
  Annals of translational medicine 2018 Zhang Z, Uddin MJ, Cheng J, Huang T
• Understanding distributional and subgroup causal effects with the instrumental propensity score
  American Journal of Epidemiology 2018 Cheng J. and Lin W. (2018).
• Causal mediation analysis with multiple causally non-ordered mediators
  Statistical Methods in Medical Research 2018 Taguri, M., Featherstone, J. and Cheng, J. (2018).
• Mediation analysis for count and zero-inflated count data without sequential ignorability and its application in dental studies
  Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C. 2018 Guo, Z., Small, D.S., Gansky, S.A., Cheng, J.
• Dental student clinical experience across three curricula at one institution
  Journal of Dental Education 2017
• Evidence that malaria parasitemia plays a pathogenic role in retinopathy-negative cerebral malaria: A natural experiment
  eLife 2017
• A Cluster-Randomized, Community-Based, Tribally-Delivered Oral Health Promotion Trial in Navajo Head Start Children
  Journal of Dental Research 2016
• Caries Risk Assessment Item Importance: Risk Designation and Caries Status in Children under Age 6.
  JDR clinical and translational research 2016 Chaffee BW, Featherstone JD, Gansky SA, Cheng J, Zhan L
• Non-operative anti-caries agents and dental caries increment among adults at high caries risk: a retrospective cohort study
  BMC Oral Health. 2015 Chaffee BW, Cheng J, Featherstone JD. (2015)
• Baseline caries risk assessment as a predictor of caries incidence.
  Journal of dentistry 2015 Chaffee BW, Cheng J, Featherstone JD
• Understanding treatment effect mechanisms of the CAMBRA randomized trial in reducing caries increment
  Journal of Dental Research. 2015 Cheng J, Chaffee BW, Cheng NF, Gansky SA, Featherstone JD. (2015).
• Assessing fit at the implant-abutment junction with a radiographic device that does not require access to the implant body
  The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry 2014 Lin KC, Wadhwani CPK, Cheng J, Sharma A, Finzen F. (2014).
• Using an instrumental variable to test for unmeasured confounding
  Statistics in Medicine 2014 Guo Z., Cheng J., Lorch S.A., and Small D.S. (2014)
• Tutorial in biostatistics: instrumental variable methods for causal inference
  Statistics in Medicine 2014 Baiocchi M., Cheng J. and Small D.S. (2014).
• Case definition and design sensitivity
  Journal of the American Statistical Association, 2013 Small, D., Cheng, J., Halloran, M.E., Rosenbaum, P. (2013).
• Effects of rituximab on lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica.
  Multiple sclerosis and related disorders 2013 Graves J, Vinayagasundaram U, Mowry EM, Matthews IR, Marino JA, Cheng J, Waubant E
• The alternative lengthening of telomere phenotype is significantly associated with loss of ATRX expression in high-grade pediatric and adult astrocytomas: A multi-institutional study of 214 astrocytomas
  Modern Pathology, 2013 Abedalthagafi, M., Phillips, J., Kim, G., Marshall, R., Croul, S., Santi, M., Cheng, J., Zhou, S., Sullivan, L., Martinez-Lage, M., Judkins, A.R., and Perry, A. (2013).
• Honoring deceased donors with a unique family-designed statement followed by a moment of silence: effect on donation outcomes
  Progress in Transplantation. 2013 Neidlinger, N., Gleason, B., and Cheng, J. (2013).
• Oral health education for pediatric nurse practitioner students.
  Journal of dental education 2013 Golinveaux J, Gerbert B, Cheng J, Duderstadt K, Alkon A, Mullen S, Lin B, Miller A, Zhan L
• Impact of genetic polymorphisms of SLC2A2, SLC2A5, and KHK on metabolic phenotypes in hypertensive individuals.
  PloS one 2013 Le MT, Lobmeyer MT, Campbell M, Cheng J, Wang Z, Turner ST, Chapman AB, Boerwinkle E, Gums JG, Gong Y, Johnson RJ, Johnson JA
• Effect of xylitol on cariogenic bacteria and caries in young children
  Journal of Dental Research 91: S85-S90. 2012 Zhan, L., Cheng, J., Chang, P., Ngo, M., DenBesten, P.K., Hoover, C.I., and Featherstone, J.D.B. (2012).
• Functional remineralization of dentin lesions using polymer-induced liquid-prcursor process
  Plos One 7: e38852 2012 Burwell A.K., Thula-Mata T., Gower L.B., Habeliz S., Kurylo M., Ho S.P., Chien Y., Cheng J., Cheng N.F., Gansky S.A., Marshall S.J., and Marshall G.W. (2012).
• Diet type and changes in food cravings following weight loss: findings from the POUNDS LOST Trial
  Eating and Weighting Disorders 2012 Anton SD, Gallagher J, Carey VJ, Laranjo N, Cheng J, Champagne CM, Ryan DH, McManus K, Loria CM, Bray GA, Sacks FM, Williamson DA. (2012).
• Functional remineralization of dentin lesions using polymer-induced liquid-precursor process.
  PloS one 2012 Burwell AK, Thula-Mata T, Gower LB, Habelitz S, Habeliz S, Kurylo M, Ho SP, Chien YC, Cheng J, Cheng NF, Gansky SA, Marshall SJ, Marshall GW
• Effects of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose on the pharmacokinetics of fructose and acute metabolic and hemodynamic responses in healthy subjects
  Metabolism, 61(5):641-651. 2012 Le, M.T., Frye, R.F., Rivard, C.J., Cheng, J., McFann, K.K., Segal, M.S., Johnson, R.J., and Johnson, J.A. (2012).
• Discomfort and exertion associated with prolonged wear of respiratory protection in a health care setting
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 2012 Shenal, B.V., Radonovich, L.J., Cheng, J., Hodgson, M., and Bender, B.S. (2012).
• Inference for the effect of treatment on survival probability in randomized trials with noncompliance and administrative censoring
  Biometrics 2011 Nie H, Cheng J, Small D. (2011)
• Sleep medicine clinical and surgical training during otolaryngology residency: A national survey of otolaryngology residency programs
  Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery 2011 Shen, T., Shimahara, E., Cheng, J., and Capasso, R.
• Effects of a weight loss plus exercise program on physical function in overweight, older women: a randomized controlled trial.
  Clinical interventions in aging 2011 Anton SD, Manini TM, Milsom VA, Dubyak P, Cesari M, Cheng J, Daniels MJ, Marsiske M, Pahor M, Leeuwenburgh C, Perri MG
• Response to Reader's Reaction: Discussion on various estimators for causal effect in randomized trials with noncompliance
  Biometrics 2011 Cheng, J. (2011).
• Salivary bacterial risk markers of subsequent early childhood caries
  IADR/AADR/CADR 89th General Session and Exhibition. 2011 Ramos-Gomez FJ, Cheng J, Gansky SA, Santo W, Hoover CI, Featherstone JDB, Weintraub JA.
• Leg extension is an important predictor of paretic leg propulsion in hemiparetic walking
  Gait Posture 2010 Peterson, C.L., Cheng, J., Kautz, S.A., and Neptune, R.R.
• Real longitudinal data analysis for real people: Building a good enough mixed model
  Statistics in Medicine 2010 Cheng, J., Edwards, L.J., Maldonado-Molina, M.M., Komro, K., and Muller, K.
• The effects of the HIPAA privacy rule on influenza research using geographic information system (GIS)
  Geospatial Health 2010 Tellman N., Litt E.R., Knapp C., Eagan A., Cheng, J., Radonovich L.M. (2010).
• Design and statistical analyses of oral medicine studies: common pitfalls
  Oral Diseases 2010 Baccaglini, L., Shuster, J.J., Cheng, J., Theriaque, D.W., Schoenbach, V.J., Tomar, S., and Poole, C. (2010).
• Diminished speech intelligibility associated with respirators worn by healthcare workers
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 2010 Radonovich, L., Robert, Y., Cheng, J., Bradley B. (2010).
• Elementary My Dear Dr. Allen: The case of barium toxicity and Pa Ping
  Neurology 2010 Bowen, L.N., Subramony, S.H., Cheng, J., Wu, S., and Okun, M.S. (2010).
• Estimation of treatment effects in crossover clinical trials with noncompliance
  Iranian Journal of Epidemiology 2010 Soltanian, A.R., Faghihzadeh, S., Gerami, A., Mehdibarzi, D., and Cheng, J. (2010).
• Evaluating the efficacy of a malaria vaccine
  The International Journal of Biostatistics 2010 Small, D., Cheng, J., Ten Have, T.R.
• Right and left dorsolateral prefrontal rTMS treatment of refractory depression: a randomized, sham-controlled trial
  Psychiatry Research 2010 Triggs W.J., Ricciuti, N., Ward, H.E., Cheng, J., Bowers, D., Goodman, W.K., Kluger, B.M., and Nadeau, S.E. (2010).
• Semiparametric estimation and inference for distributional and general treatment effects
  Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology) 2009 Cheng, J., Qin, J., and Zhang, B.
• Estimation and inference for the causal effect of receiving treatment on a multinomial outcome
  Biometrics 2009 Cheng, J.
• Efficient nonparametric estimation of causal effects in randomized trials with noncompliance
  Biometrika 2009 Cheng, J., Small, D., Tan, Z., and Ten Have, T.
• Respirator tolerability in healthcare workers
  Journal of the American Medical Association 2009 Radonovich, L.J., Cheng, J., Shenal, B.V., Yanke, R., Hodgson, M., and Bender, B.S.
• Discussion of ``Identifiability and Estimation of Causal Effects in Randomized Trials with Noncompliance and Completely Non-ignorable Missing Data.''
  Biometrics 2009 Small, D., and Cheng, J.
• Assessment of marhame-mafasel pomade effect on knee osteoarthritis with non-compliance
  Journal of Research in Health Sciences 2009 Soltanian, A.R., Faghihzadeh, S., Mehdibarzi, D., Gerami, A., Nasery, M., and Cheng, J. (2009).
• Actigraphy in older adults: comparison of means and variability of three different aggregates of measurement
  Behavioral Sleep Medicine 2008 Rowe, M., McCrae, C., Campbell, J., Horne, C., Tiegs, T., Lehman, B., and Cheng, J. (2008).
• Sleep pattern differences between older adult caregivers and older adult noncaregivers using objective and subjective measures
  Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 2008 Rowe, M., Campbell, J., McCrae, C., Pe Benito, A., and Cheng, J. (2008).
• Numerical skills and asthma outcomes
  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2007 Apter, A., Cheng, J., Small, D., Bennett, I.M., Albert, C., Fein, D.G., George, M., and Van Horne, M. (2007).
• Bounds on causal effects in three-arm trials with noncompliance
  Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology) 2006 Cheng, J. and Small, D. (2006)
• Random effects logistic models for analyzing efficacy of a longitudinal randomized treatment with non-adherence
  Statistics in Medicine 2006 Small, D., Ten Have, T., Joffe, M. and Cheng, J. (2006)
• Asthma numeracy skill and health literacy
  Journal of Asthma 2006 Apter, A., Cheng, J., Small, D., Albert, C., Fein, D., Bennett, I., George, M., Van Horne, M. and Chang, D. (2006).
• The principles and methods to establish the diagnosis criteria of primary osteoporosis
  Chinese Journal of Osteoporosis 1999 Yang, D., Cheng, J. and An, Z. (1999).