Medicine Nephrology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

Joseph Cheung, M.D., has been named director of the Division of Nephrology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is also the Capizzi Professor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

An internationally recognized researcher, Dr. Cheung joins Jefferson from the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine where he was professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Physiology.

In welcoming Dr. Cheung, Arthur Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., Magee Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College, said he brings a strong and varied background in kidney research to Jefferson which will both enhance and complement the current work in the Division of Nephrology. “He is well known for his research in signal transduction (the process by which cells translate signals) and calcium homeostasis (the methods by which the body maintains calcium).”

Dr. Cheung received a bachelor of science degree in 1972 from McGill University in Montreal, a master’s degree in Physiology in 1974 and a Ph.D. in Physiology in 1976 from Pennsylvania State University. He received a doctor of medicine degree in 1978 from Duke University.

He completed an internship and residency in Medicine at Duke University Medical Center in 1980. He then completed concurrent Clinical and Research Fellowships in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Research Fellowship in Medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1983.

At Harvard Medical School, Dr. Cheung served as assistant professor of Medicine from 1984 to 1986. He joined Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine as associate Professor of Medicine and Physiology in 1986. In 1991, he became a tenured Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Physiology, a position he held until 2000 when he moved to the Henry Hood Research Program at the Weis Center for Research, Geisinger Clinic, as senior scientist. In 2004, he returned to Penn State as tenured Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Physiology.

Dr. Cheung joined the Medical Staff at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in 1986. He became Chief, division of Nephrology, in 1993 and held the position until 2000, when he became an associate in the Department of Nephrology at Geisinger Medical Center. In 2003, he was named director, Pancreas Transplant Program.

Dr. Cheung’s research has focused on exercise training in postinfarction hearts: cellular mechanisms of functional improvement; phospholemman and cardiac function, signal transduction mechanisms of erythropoietin; calcium and TRP channels; calcium and congestive heart failure.

He is a member of numerous professional societies including the International Society of Nephrology, American Physiological Society, American Society of Nephrology, Biophysical Society, Society of General Physiologists and American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Cheung is principal investigator on two NIH grants and co-investigator on another NIH grant totaling close to $3 million. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 publications in numerous professional journals including the New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of Clinical Investigation; American Journal of Physiology; Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of Applied Physiology.