Steven C.N. Cheng, MD

Steven Chih-Nung Cheng, MD, assistant professor of medicine, is being honored for his role as an outstanding educator.

Cheng is director of the Nephrology Fellowship Training Program and course master of the second-year renal pathophysiology course. In that course, he increased the interactive problem-based learning and small-group discussions and fostered collegial team-based education. He also serves as a preceptor for the Practice of Medicine curriculum, co-course master for the Music in Medicine Selective, and takes an active role in teaching house staff.

Cheng’s students describe the key to his success as being the passion, humor, patience and incredible knowledge base he brings to his teaching; they benefit from his clear instruction and innovative, interactive teaching methods. He has been named teacher of the year several consecutive years by renal fellows; the school’s medical students have honored him as Lecturer of the Year three times, awarded him the Distinguished Service Teaching Award in 2009 and chose him to deliver the Alpha Omega Alpha lecture in 2011. He also received Washington University’s Humanism in Medicine Award in 2011 and Professor of the Year Award in 2012.

His skill in teaching is also recognized by frequent requests to author chapters in a number of distinguished publications; he is a key author in the Washington Manual of Outpatient Internal Medicine, the Handbook of Dialysis, and the Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics.

Cheng earned his bachelor’s degree in 1997 and his medical degree in 2001, both from Northwestern University. He continued his medical training with an internship and residency at Northwestern, then came to Washington University for a nephrology fellowship, and joined the faculty in 2006. Cheng is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Nephrology.