Dr. Cheng earned her bachelor's degrees in molecular and cell biology and psychology from UC Berkeley and her MD from University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She completed neurology residency at New York-Presbyterian – Weill Cornell Medicine, where she was chief resident in her final year. She underwent a clinical fellowship in vascular neurology at UC San Francisco Medical Center, followed by an NIH Strokenet research fellowship. She served as the director of stroke services at NewYork-Presbyterian – Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and the inaugural site director of the NYP Brooklyn Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit. In 2018 she joined the neurology faculty at Montefiore-Einstein, where she was an assistant professor of neurology, clinical liaison for the Montefiore Comprehensive Stroke Center Network, and chair of the Comprehensive Stroke Center Case Review Committee. She returned to WCM in 2023 to be the site chief for neurology at Lower Manhattan Hospital and the departmental chair of quality improvement.