Richard Cheng, MD
Assistant Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

As both a heart transplant and interventional cardiologist, he also specializes in supporting patients in cardiogenic shock – a type of shock that may occur when the heart can't pump well enough to meet the body's needs – with temporary circulatory pumps as a bridge to recovery or heart transplantation.

Cheng's research is focused on how to rescue patients in cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest and on optimizing the performance of minimally invasive repair of leaky heart valves. His research interests include temporary mechanical circulatory support, stents and stent-valves (tiny tubes that can be placed surgically to keep blood vessels open) in patients with heart failure, minimally invasive mitral and tricuspid valve repair, and coronary artery disease after heart transplantation.

After earning his medical degree at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Cheng completed residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He completed fellowships in cardiology, interventional cardiology, and advanced heart failure and transplant at Cedars-Sinai.

Cheng belongs to the American College of Cardiology, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, and American Heart Association.

• Machine Learning for Predicting Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery: A Scoping Review of Current Literature.
  The American journal of cardiology 2023 El-Sherbini AH, Shah A, Cheng R, Elsebaie A, Harby AA, Redfearn D, El-Diasty M
• The HFSA Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship Consensus Conference.
  Journal of cardiac failure 2023 Drazner MH, Ambardekar AV, Berlacher K, Blumer V, Chatur S, Cheng R, Cheng RK, Grandin EW, Gorodeski EZ, Kataria R, Katz JN, Kittleson MM, Krishnamoorthy A, Lala A, Lenneman AJ, Lohr NL, Margulies KB,…
• Safety and Performance of the Aortix Device in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure and Cardiorenal Syndrome.
  JACC. Heart failure 2023 Cowger JA, Basir MB, Baran DA, Hayward CS, Rangaswami J, Walton A, Tita C, Minear S, Hakemi E, Klein L, Cheng R, Wu R, Mohanty BD, Heuring JJ, Neely E, Shah P, Aortix CRS Pilot Study Investigators
• Donor-Transmitted Coronary Artery Disease: Another Avenue to Expand Heart Transplantation?
  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2023 Cheng R, Azarbal B, Smith J
• Neurohormonal blockade in transthyretin amyloidosis: perhaps one size does not fit all?
  European heart journal 2023 Cheng RK, Cuddy SAM
• A narrative review of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in breast cancer survivors.
  Heart (British Cardiac Society) 2023 Yogeswaran V, Wadden E, Szewczyk W, Barac A, Simon MS, Eaton C, Cheng RK, Reding KW
• Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis: Underrecognized in the Underrepresented.
  Journal of the American Heart Association 2023 Leedy DJ, Cuddy SAM, Cheng RK
• Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty for Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Note of Caution.
  Journal of the American Heart Association 2023 Cheng R, Conrad M
• An Opportunity to Refine Our Understanding of Right Ventricular Involvement in Cardiac Sarcoidosis.
  JACC. Cardiovascular imaging 2023 Nazer B, Cheng RK
• Multichamber Strain Predicts Atrial Fibrillation in Cardiac Amyloidosis.
  Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography 2022 Yogeswaran V, Singulane CC, Slivnick JA, Kirkpatrick JN, Addetia K, Lang RM, Vasbinder A, Liu JE, Maurer MS, Cheng RK
• The shock team: a multidisciplinary approach to early patient phenotyping and appropriate care escalation in cardiogenic shock.
  Current opinion in cardiology 2022 Brusca SB, Caughron H, Njoroge JN, Cheng R, O'Brien CG, Barnett CF
• Risk of heart failure with preserved versus reduced ejection fraction in women with breast cancer.
  Breast cancer research and treatment 2022 Kwan ML, Cheng RK, Iribarren C, Shen H, Laurent CA, Roh JM, Hershman DL, Kushi LH, Greenlee H, Rana JS
• Long-Term Outcomes and Risk Stratification of Patients With Heart Failure With Recovered Ejection Fraction.
  The American journal of cardiology 2022 Perry AS, Mudigonda P, Huang GS, Qureshi B, Cheng RK, Levy WC, Li S
• Combat Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity With the Power of Mitochondria Transfer.
  JACC. CardioOncology 2021 Wang DD, Cheng RK, Tian R
• Recognition and Implications of Undiagnosed Cardiac Amyloid Patients in HFpEF Trials.
  JACC. Heart failure 2021 Cheng RK, Maurer MS
• How to Manage Mitral Stenosis Due to Mitral Annular Calcification.
  Current cardiology reports 2021 Cheng R
• Implications of cancer prior to and after heart transplantation.
  Heart (British Cardiac Society) 2021 Mudigonda P, Berardi C, Chetram V, Barac A, Cheng R
• Coronary revascularisation outcomes in patients with cancer.
  Heart (British Cardiac Society) 2021 Leedy D, Tiwana JK, Mamas M, Hira R, Cheng R
• Left Ventricular Assist Devices in Patients With Active Malignancies.
  JACC. CardioOncology 2021 Schlam I, Lee AY, Li S, Sheikh FH, Zaghlol R, Basyal B, Gallagher C, Molina E, Mahr C, Cheng RK, Barac A
• Cost-effectiveness of left ventricular assist devices as destination therapy in the United Kingdom.
  ESC heart failure 2021 Schueler S, Silvestry SC, Cotts WG, Slaughter MS, Levy WC, Cheng RK, Beckman JA, Villinger J, Ismyrloglou E, Tsintzos SI, Mahr C
• Admission respiratory status predicts mortality in COVID-19.
  Influenza and other respiratory viruses 2021 Chatterjee NA, Jensen PN, Harris AW, Nguyen DD, Huang HD, Cheng RK, Savla JJ, Larsen TR, Gomez JMD, Du-Fay-de-Lavallaz JM, Lemaitre RN, McKnight B, Gharib SA, Sotoodehnia N
• Appropriate use of multimodality stress testing for chest pain in new patient referrals to cardiologists.
  Coronary artery disease 2021 Lam DH, Tiwana J, Li S, Kirkpatrick JN, Cheng RK
• SGLT2 Inhibitors: Who Should Prescribe Them for Patients With Heart Failure?
  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2021 Cheng RK, Mooney DM, Chien CV, Shah KS, Vest A, Jefferies JL
• Patient factors and outcomes associated with discordance between quantitative and qualitative cardiac PET ischemia information.
  PloS one 2021 Zigray H, Elman S, Cheng RK, Li S, Lee J, Soine L, Caldwell J, Alessio AM
• When cardiomyopathy, cancer, and COVID-19 collide: A case report.
  The breast journal 2021 Symonds L, Natarajan P, Cheng RK, Lam DL, Kilgore M, Kim J, Calhoun K, Minami E, Gralow JR
• Cardio-Oncology Education and Training: JACC Council Perspectives.
  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2020 Alvarez-Cardona JA, Ray J, Carver J, Zaha V, Cheng R, Yang E, Mitchell JD, Stockerl-Goldstein K, Kondapalli L, Dent S, Arnold A, Brown SA, Leja M, Barac A, Lenihan DJ, Herrmann J, Cardio-Oncology …
• Accuracy of Doppler blood pressure measurement in HeartMate 3 ventricular assist device patients.
  ESC heart failure 2020 Li S, Beckman JA, Welch NG, Cheng RK, Rockom SW, Levy WC, O'Brien KD, Dardas TF, Lin S, Leary PJ, Kirkpatrick J, McCabe JM, Bjelkengren J, Chassagne F, Aliseda A, Zimpfer D, Mahr C
• Diuretic Dose and NYHA Functional Class Are Independent Predictors of Mortality in Patients With Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis.
  JACC. CardioOncology 2020 Cheng RK, Levy WC, Vasbinder A, Teruya S, De Los Santos J, Leedy D, Maurer MS
• Right-to-Left Shunt Through Iatrogenic Atrial Septal Defect After MitraClip Procedure.
  JACC. Cardiovascular interventions 2020 Morikawa T, Miyasaka M, Flint N, Manabe O, Dawkins S, Cheng R, Hussaini A, Makar M, Kar S, Nakamura M
• Constrictive Pericarditis After Lung Transplantation.
  JACC. Case reports 2020 Vincent LL, Wan SH, Steinberg ZL, Kapnadak S, Nishimura RA, Cheng RK
• Intraventricular Free-Floating Thrombus in an Impella-Supported Patient: Damage Control in a No-Win Scenario.
  JACC. Case reports 2020 Nguyen D, Ellison D, Ngo C, Steinberg Z, Don C, Cheng RK
• Cardiovascular disease and COVID-19: implications for prevention, surveillance and treatment.
  Heart (British Cardiac Society) 2020 Chatterjee NA, Cheng RK
• Echocardiographic assessment of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-7 and early identification of acute heart failure.
  ESC heart failure 2020 Kalayci A, Peacock WF, Nagurney JT, Hollander JE, Levy PD, Singer AJ, Shapiro NI, Cheng RK, Cannon CM, Blomkalns AL, Walters EL, Christenson RH, Chen-Tournoux A, Nowak RM, Lurie MD, Pang PS, Kastner P…
• Immune checkpoint inhibitors in heart or lung transplantation: Early results from a registry initiative.
  The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 2020 Daud A, Mehra MR, Siu A, Johnson MR, Perch M, Budev M, Zakharia Y, Cheng R, Nativi-Nicolau J, Stehlik J
• On the Edge of a Precipice: A Bridge to Options for Patients with End-Stage Heart Failure and Cardiogenic Shock.
  ASAIO journal (American Society for Artificial Internal Organs : 1992) 2020 Cheng R, Esmailian F, Moriguchi J
• Cardio-Oncology and the Intersection of Cancer and Cardiotoxicity: The Role of Palliative Care.
  JACC. CardioOncology 2019 Cheng RK, Kirkpatrick JN, Sorror ML, Barac A
• Percutaneous Mitral Repair for Patients in Cardiogenic Shock Requiring Inotropes and Temporary Mechanical Circulatory Support.
  JACC. Cardiovascular interventions 2019 Cheng R, Dawkins S, Hamilton MA, Makar M, Hussaini A, Azarbal B, Patel JK, Kobashigawa JA, Trento A, Makkar RR, Kar S
• Clinical Outcomes of Impella Microaxial Devices Used to Salvage Cardiogenic Shock as a Bridge to Durable Circulatory Support or Cardiac Transplantation.
  ASAIO journal (American Society for Artificial Internal Organs : 1992) 2019 Cheng R, Tank R, Ramzy D, Azarbal B, Chung J, Esmailian F, Kobashigawa JA, Moriguchi JD, Arabia FA
• Does ex vivo perfusion lead to more or less intimal thickening in the first-year post-heart transplantation?
  Clinical transplantation 2019 Sato T, Azarbal B, Cheng R, Esmailian F, Patel J, Kittleson M, Czer L, Thottam M, Levine R, Dimbil S, Olymbios M, Anzai T, Hamilton MA, Khayal T, Kobashigawa JA
• Combined heart and kidney transplantation-Is there a protective effect against cardiac allograft vasculopathy using intravascular ultrasound?
  The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 2019 Sato T, Cheng R, Azarbal B, Kittleson M, Patel J, Czer L, Levine R, Dimbil S, Olymbios M, Anzai T, Kransdorf E, Chang DH, Hamilton MA, Esmailian F, Kobashigawa J
• Rivaroxaban With or Without Aspirin in Patients With Heart Failure and Chronic Coronary or Peripheral Artery Disease.
  Circulation 2019 Branch KR, Probstfield JL, Eikelboom JW, Bosch J, Maggioni AP, Cheng RK, Bhatt DL, Avezum A, Fox KAA, Connolly SJ, Shestakovska O, Yusuf S
• Update in the use of percutaneous coronary intervention for cardiac allograft vasculopathy after heart transplantation
  OBM Transplantation 2019 Cheng R, Kobashigawa J
• Editorial commentary: Searching for the sweet spot of cardioprotection in cancer treatment related cardiotoxicity: Who will benefit?
  Trends in cardiovascular medicine 2019 Cheng RK, Yang EH
• Cleft mitral leaflets and severe mitral regurgitation: Testing the limits of percutaneous mitral valve repair.
  Catheterization and cardiovascular interventions : official journal of the Society for Cardiac Angiography & Interventions 2018 Cheng R, Kar S, Siegel RJ, Nakamura M
• Imaging for Mitral Interventions: Methods and Efficacy.
  JACC. Cardiovascular imaging 2018 Wunderlich NC, Beigel R, Ho SY, Nietlispach F, Cheng R, Agricola E, Siegel RJ
• Echocardiographic Insights into the Hemodynamics of Systolic Heart Failure: Can This Guide Titration of Medical Therapy?
  Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography 2018 Cheng RK, Levy WC
• Angiogenesis on coronary angiography is a marker for accelerated cardiac allograft vasculopathy as assessed by intravascular ultrasound.
  Clinical transplantation 2017 Cheng R, Kransdorf EP, Wei J, Patel JK, Kobashigawa JA, Azarbal B
• Relation of Residual Mitral Regurgitation Despite Elevated Mitral Gradients to Risk of Heart Failure Hospitalization After MitraClip Repair.
  The American journal of cardiology 2017 Cheng R, Dawkins S, Tat E, Makar M, Hussaini A, Makkar RR, Trento A, Siegel RJ, Kar S
• Nonpharmacological approaches to refractory angina
  Heart Metab 2017 Cheng R, Henry TD
• Long-term clinical and angiographic outcomes of percutanenous coronary intervention with everolimus-eluting stents for the treatment of cardiac allograft vasculopathy.
  Catheterization and cardiovascular interventions : official journal of the Society for Cardiac Angiography & Interventions 2016 Cheng R, Vanichsarn C, Patel JK, Currier J, Chang DH, Kittleson MM, Makkar R, Kobashigawa JA, Azarbal B
• Mitral annular calcification is not associated with decreased procedural success, durability of repair, or left ventricular remodelling in percutaneous edge-to-edge repair of mitral regurgitation.
  EuroIntervention : journal of EuroPCR in collaboration with the Working Group on Interventional Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology 2016 Cheng R, Tat E, Siegel RJ, Arsanjani R, Hussaini A, Makar M, Mizutani Y, Trento A, Kar S
• Device Strategies for Patients in INTERMACS Profiles 1 and 2 Cardiogenic Shock: Double Bridge With Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation and Initial Implant of More Durable Devices.
  Artificial organs 2016 Cheng R, Ramzy D, Azarbal B, Arabia FA, Esmailian F, Czer LS, Kobashigawa JA, Moriguchi JD
• ACC.org: Stable Ischemic Heart Disease. American College of Cardiology
  Transplant CAD: the role of PCI in the transplanted heart. Expert Analysis 2016 Cheng R, Kobashigawa JA
• Elevated immune monitoring as measured by increased adenosine triphosphate production in activated lymphocytes is associated with accelerated development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy after cardiac transplantation.
  The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 2016 Cheng R, Azarbal B, Yung A, Patel JK, Chang DH, Liou F, Makkar R, Kobashigawa JA
• Forty Years of Chest Pain: A Case Report and Contemporary Review of the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Options for Myocardial Bridging.
  Reviews in cardiovascular medicine 2016 Tat E, Cheng R, Helfenstein JS
• Induction Therapy With Antithymocyte Globulin in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Transplantation Is Associated With Decreased Coronary Plaque Progression as Assessed by Intravascular Ultrasound.
  Circulation. Heart failure 2016 Azarbal B, Cheng R, Vanichsarn C, Patel JK, Czer LS, Chang DH, Kittleson MM, Kobashigawa JA
• Not Your Typical Hole-in-the-Wall: Percutaneous Closure of an Acquired Post-Myocardial Infarction Ventriculoatrial Gerbode Defect.
  JACC. Cardiovascular interventions 2015 Cheng R, Arsanjani R, Tat E, Cox J, Uberoi A, Aron R, Kar S
• Lack of Survival Benefit Found With Use of Intraaortic Balloon Pump in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Pooled Experience of 1517 Patients.
  The Journal of invasive cardiology 2015 Cheng R, Hachamovitch R, Makkar R, Ramzy D, Moriguchi JD, Arabia FA, Esmailian F, Azarbal B
• Randomized pilot trial of gene expression profiling versus heart biopsy in the first year after heart transplant: early invasive monitoring attenuation through gene expression trial.
  Circulation. Heart failure 2015 Kobashigawa J, Patel J, Azarbal B, Kittleson M, Chang D, Czer L, Daun T, Luu M, Trento A, Cheng R, Esmailian F
• Heeding the sign: macroscopic T-wave alternans.
  The American journal of medicine 2015 Cheng R, Chan AP, Ehdaie A, Bersohn MM
• Elevated immune monitoring early after cardiac transplantation is associated with increased plaque progression by intravascular ultrasound.
  Clinical transplantation 2015 Cheng R, Azarbal B, Yung A, Chang DH, Patel JK, Kobashigawa JA
• Tricuspid Regurgitation, the Forgotten Valvular Lesion-A Contemporary Review of Etiology, Prevalence, and Management Options.
  Reviews in cardiovascular medicine 2015 Cheng R, Azarbal A, Currier J, Thomson LE, Hamilton MA, Esmailian F, Azarbal B
• Percutaneous angioplasty of stenotic outflow graft anastomosis of HeartMate II.
  JACC. Cardiovascular interventions 2014 Cheng RK, Aboulhosn J, Nsair A
• Clinical outcomes in fulminant myocarditis requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: a weighted meta-analysis of 170 patients.
  Journal of cardiac failure 2014 Cheng R, Hachamovitch R, Kittleson M, Patel J, Arabia F, Moriguchi J, Esmailian F, Azarbal B
• Development of an anatomical wrist joint coordinate system to quantify motion during functional tasks.
  Journal of applied biomechanics 2014 Hillstrom HJ, Garg R, Kraszewski A, Lenhoff M, Carter T, Backus SI, Wolff A, Syrkin G, Cheng R, Wolfe SW
• Piezoelectric electrocardiographic artifact in a patient after surgery with bradycardia and hypotension.
  Annals of noninvasive electrocardiology : the official journal of the International Society for Holter and Noninvasive Electrocardiology, Inc 2014 Cheng R, Chakravarty T
• Prevalence of coronary artery fistulae after cardiac surgery. Comparison between coronary artery bypass grafting, valve surgery, and orthotopic heart transplantation.
  Herz 2014 Young A, Cheng R, Wei J, Esmailian F, Currier J, Azarbal B
• Molecular basis of recovering on mechanical circulatory support.
  Heart failure clinics 2014 Nsair A, Liem DA, Cadeiras M, Cheng RK, Allareddy M, Kwon M, Shemin R, Deng MC
• Complications of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for treatment of cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest: a meta-analysis of 1,866 adult patients.
  The Annals of thoracic surgery 2013 Cheng R, Hachamovitch R, Kittleson M, Patel J, Arabia F, Moriguchi J, Esmailian F, Azarbal B
• Obesity in heart failure: impact on survival and treatment modalities.
  Expert review of cardiovascular therapy 2013 Cheng RK, DePasquale EC, Deng MC, Nsair A, Horwich TB
• Frequency of coronary artery fistulae is increased after orthotopic heart transplantation.
  The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 2013 Wei J, Azarbal B, Singh S, Rafiei M, Cheng R, Patel J, Esmailian F, Currier J, Kobashigawa J
• Risks from Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: A Review of Methods, Efficacy, and Safety.
  Journal of atrial fibrillation 2012 Cheng R, Chang M, Yuan Ng C
• The development of an intraoperative plantar pressure assessment device.
  Foot & ankle international 2009 Ellis SJ, Hillstrom H, Cheng R, Lipman J, Garrison G, Deland JT
• Treatment of proximal interphalangeal dorsal fracture-dislocation injuries with dynamic external fixation: a pins and rubber band system.
  The Journal of hand surgery 2007 Ellis SJ, Cheng R, Prokopis P, Chetboun A, Wolfe SW, Athanasian EA, Weiland AJ
• Inhibitors of metabolism rescue cell death in Huntington's disease models.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2007 Varma H, Cheng R, Voisine C, Hart AC, Stockwell BR
• Cyclin A2 induces cardiac regeneration after myocardial infarction and prevents heart failure.
  Circulation research 2007 Cheng RK, Asai T, Tang H, Dashoush NH, Kara RJ, Costa KD, Naka Y, Wu EX, Wolgemuth DJ, Chaudhry HW
• Myocardial regeneration therapy for ischemic cardiomyopathy with cyclin A2.
  The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery 2007 Woo YJ, Panlilio CM, Cheng RK, Liao GP, Suarez EE, Atluri P, Chaudhry HW