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Michael Cheng

Michael Cheng

•HS Associate Clinical Professor, Step 3, Department of Medicine
•Rheumatology Fellowship Program Director, Department of Medicine

Biography

Michael Cheng, D.O., is HS Associate Clinical Professor and Rheumatology Fellowship Program Director in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. He earned his Doctor of Osteopathy degree from Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2011, completed his internal medicine residency at UCSF Fresno, and finished his rheumatology fellowship at UC Irvine in 2016. Prior to his medical career, Cheng worked as an electrical engineer at Raytheon Company and later as a research coordinator at Brigham & Women's Hospital.

Cheng has served in various leadership roles at UC Irvine, beginning as Assistant Clinical Professor in 2016 and advancing to Associate Program Director of the Rheumatology Fellowship from 2020 to 2022 before becoming Program Director in 2022. He has received multiple teaching awards, including the Specialist of the Year Teaching Award from the Family Medicine Department in both 2021 and 2023. During his residency training, he was named Resident of the Year for both his PGY-2 and PGY-3 years.

Cheng has been involved in medical education at UC Irvine since 2014, teaching the annual General Musculoskeletal Exam for first-year medical students and leading a Case-Based Rheumatology Series for second-year medical students since 2017. His research experience includes work on HIV-1 immunology during his time at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital, resulting in publications on T-cell responses and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte escape. He has also contributed to research on representation of skin of color in rheumatology educational resources.

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Education

  • D.O., Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine, 2011
  • B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Tufts University, 2002
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Distinctions

  • Specialist of the Year Teaching Award, Family Medicine Department, 2021, 2023
  • PGY-3 Resident of the Year, 2014
  • PGY-2 Resident of the Year, 2013
  • Top 20 doctor at UCI Health for achieving outstanding results in patient communications, 2019
  • Graduation with Honors, Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine, 2011
  • Dean's List Award, Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine, 2008
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Areas of Expertise

  • Clinical Rheumatology
  • HIV-1 Immunology
  • Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Responses
  • Hepatitis C Viral Kinetics
  • Dermatological Manifestations in Rheumatology
  • Medical Education Pedagogy
  • Musculoskeletal Examination Techniques

Recent Publications

  • “Representation of Skin of Color in Rheumatology Educational Resources”, J Rheumatol, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 419-423, 2022.
  • “High degree of inter-clade cross-reactivity of HIV-1-specific T cell responses on the single peptide level”, AIDS, vol. 19, no. 14, pp. 1449-56, 2005.
  • “De novo generation of escape variant-specific CD8+ T-cell responses following cytotoxic T-lymphocyte escape in chronic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection”, J Virol, vol. 79, no. 20, pp. 12952-60, 2005.
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Contact Information

Email: michac8@uci.edu

Phone: (714) 456-7720

Address: 101 The City Drive South, Orange, CA 92868, Irvine, CA 92868

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 3/12/2026.