Jessica Cheng, M.P.H., Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor Schools School of Public Health Departments Public Health Biography Dr. Jessica Cheng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology. Prior to joining UT Southwestern, she worked as an epidemiologist for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Dr. Cheng earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard School of Public Health where she was a T32 fellow in the CVD Epidemiology Training Program in Behavior, the Environment and Global Health. Dr. Cheng is a cardiovascular and nutritional epidemiologist and behavioral scientist. Her research focuses on the development and testing of behavioral interventions for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease using randomized controlled trial designs. She has particular interest in diet quality measurement, sodium reduction, and increasing potassium intake. Her work focuses on low-income, food insecure, and Asian American populations as well as patients with hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. Her interventional work is complemented by epidemiological analyses and insights from scoping and systematic reviews. Dr. Cheng has received funding from the NHLBI (F31-diversity), MGH (Fund for Medical Discovery Population Health Care Fellowship), the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS), and the Center for Nutrition and Health Impact. Research Interest Behavior Change Diet Food Insecurity Hypertension Randomized Controlled Trials Sodium Publications Featured Publications Diet in the General United States Asian American Population: A Scoping Review. Chan SWC, Godbole N, LeCroy MN, Kuang KM, Cheng J, Beasley JM, Laynor G, Wang VH, Ali SH, Yi SS, Curr Dev Nutr 2026 May 10 5 107693 Blood Pressure Control Trajectories and Cardiovascular Risk: Pathophysiological Variation or Implementation Gap? Cheng J, Chen J, He J, J Am Coll Cardiol 2026 Apr Design of Heart Well: A randomized pilot study of a community health worker-delivered nutrition intervention for low-income adults with hypertension. Gu KD, Cheng J, Bejarano O, Gelsomin E, Malone A, Faulkner KC, Thorndike AN, Contemp Clin Trials 2026 Mar 162 108244 Sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with diet quality in low-income adults with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Gu KD, Shinnick D, Thaweethai T, Cheng J, Wexler DJ, Thorndike AN, Prim Care Diabetes 2026 Feb 20 1 120-126 Food and Housing Insecurity, Stress, and Health Care Use After Medicaid Expanded Services Program. Thorndike AN, McCurley JL, Chang Y, Cheng J, Clark CR, Vogeli C, McGovern S, Fung V, Levy DE, JAMA Netw Open 2025 Jul 8 7 e2519507 Racial and Ethnic Differences in Sodium Sources and Sodium Reduction Behaviors Among US Adults: NHANES 2017 to 2020 Prepandemic. Cheng J, Thorndike AN, Yi S, J Am Heart Assoc 2025 Jun 14 11 e037997 Acceptability and Preliminary Efficacy of a Novel Web-Based Physical Activity for the Heart (PATH) Intervention Designed to Promote Physical Activity in Adults With Obesity: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Kariuki J, Burke L, Erickson K, Sereika S, Paul S, Cheng J, Biza H, Abdirahman A, Wilbraham K, Milton H, Brown C, Sells M, Osei Baah F, Wells J, Chandler R, Barone Gibbs B, JMIR Res Protoc 2025 Mar 14 e67972 Adherence to self-monitoring and behavioral goals is associated with improved weight loss in an mHealth randomized-controlled trial. Burke LE, Bizhanova Z, Conroy MB, Cheng J, Beatrice B, Kariuki JK, Parmanto B, Sereika SM, Obesity (Silver Spring) 2025 Mar 33 3 478-489 Changes in Food Insecurity Among US Adults With Low Income During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Wu Y, Cheng J, Thorndike AN, JAMA Netw Open 2025 Feb 8 2 e2462277 Sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with diet quality among low-income community health center patients with hypertension. Cheng J, Faulkner KC, Malone A, Gu KD, Thorndike AN, PLoS One 2025 20 1 e0299781 Results 1-10 of 30 1 2 3 Next Last Honors & Awards NIH Loan Repayment Program (LRP) Awardee (2024-2026) Delta Omega National Honorary Society in Public Health (2023) Certified in Public Health (CPH) (2017) Certified Lifestyle CoachDiabetes Prevention Program Group Lifestyle Balance (DPP-GLB) (2017) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Heart Association (2022) American Public Health Association (2022) Asian American Research Center on Health (2024) Society of Behavioral Medicine (2022)
