Jonathan Juin-Jen Cheng, MD
Pediatric Hand Surgeon
Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Languages Spoken:
- English
Biography
When it came time to choose a specialty during his training, Dr. Jonathan Cheng wanted a challenge. So he pursued pediatric hand surgery, focusing on a part of the body known for its complexity.
“As you can imagine, the hand is the leading edge of involvement with the physical world,” Dr. Cheng says. “That makes it vulnerable to injury in children, especially athletes.”
Young children also rely on their hands to interact with the world and make sense of it. After becoming a parent himself, Dr. Cheng gained an even greater appreciation of this vital function — and an even deeper empathy for the concerned parents who bring their children to him.
Dr. Cheng and his practice partner, Dr. Jennifer Kargel, care for up to 3,000 Children’s Health℠ patients every year, treating sports injuries, trauma, and all other hand and wrist problems.
Some of his patients have congenital differences, including unusual configurations of the hand — fingers connected to one another (syndactyly), parts of the hand or thumb missing (constriction ring, symbrachydactyly, hypoplastic thumb) or hand bent severely inward (radial dysplasia), for example.
The baseline for all the work we do is to restore the hand back to a function and an appearance that is as normal as possible.
“The baseline for all the work we do is to restore the hand back to a function and an appearance that is as normal as possible,” Dr. Cheng says. Because the hand has so many parts, operating on them requires knowledge of many different systems in the body, including bones, joints, nerves, tendons, blood vessels and skin. “Hand surgeons have to be experts in all of it,” he says.
What Dr. Cheng particularly likes about specializing in the hand is the ability to work carefully with patients and determine how he can help them. He spends time talking to each patient and parent, and conducts a thorough physical exam — much like the traditional family doctors he admires.
Dr. Cheng is also pursuing the leading edge of his specialty. In addition to his Children's practice, he runs the Nerve Lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where he is chief of pediatric hand, peripheral nerve and microvascular surgery in the Department of Plastic Surgery. He has a specific interest in peripheral nerve tissue engineering, and is working on ways to connect a robotic replacement hand to nerves in the arm. “Eventually, we hope to translate that into something that can be done for kids,” he says.
Dr. Cheng is board-certified in plastic surgery and hand surgery. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. He earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his plastic surgery residency at Medical College of Wisconsin, and further trained in hand surgery and microsurgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he had a peripheral nerve fellowship.
An avid skier and cyclist, Dr. Cheng is also an amateur bicycle mechanic. Diagnosing and fixing bike problems has made him an even better surgeon, and vice versa, he believes. “It’s all about noticing what doesn’t sound right and what isn’t moving right, and understanding the dynamics of a complex mechanical system,” he says.
Education and Training
- Medical School
- Baylor College of Medicine (2000)
- Residency
- Medical College of Wisconsin (2006), Plastic Surgery
- Fellowship
- Washington University School of Medicine (2007), Hand Surgery
- Board Certification
- American Board of Plastic Surgery
Conditions
Departments and Programs
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Research Interests
- Adult hand surgery
- Brachial plexus reconstruction
- Facial reanimation
- Nerve regeneration
- Nerve-machine interface
- Pediatric hand surgery
- Tissue engineering
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Publications
Publications
- Dynamic peripheral nerve stimulation can produce cortical activation similar to punctate mechanical stimuli. Tanner J, Keefer E, Cheng J, Helms Tillery S, Front Hum Neurosci 2023 17 1083307
- Artificial Intelligence Enables Real-Time and Intuitive Control of Prostheses via Nerve Interface. Luu DK, Nguyen AT, Jiang M, Drealan MW, Xu J, Wu T, Tam WK, Zhao W, Lim BZH, Overstreet CK, Zhao Q, Cheng J, Keefer EW, Yang Z, IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2022 10 69 10 3051-3063
- A portable, self-contained neuroprosthetic hand with deep learning-based finger control. Nguyen AT, Drealan MW, Luu DK, Jiang M, Xu J, Cheng J, Zhao Q, Keefer E, Yang Z, J Neural Eng 2021 Sep
- Fascicle-Specific Targeting of Longitudinal Intrafascicular Electrodes for Motor and Sensory Restoration in Upper-Limb Amputees. Cheng J, Yang Z, Overstreet CK, Keefer E, Hand Clin 2021 Aug 37 3 401-414
- Deep Learning-Based Approaches for Decoding Motor Intent From Peripheral Nerve Signals. Luu DK, Nguyen AT, Jiang M, Xu J, Drealan MW, Cheng J, Keefer EW, Zhao Q, Yang Z, Front Neurosci 2021 15 667907
- In-Depth Look at the Anatomical Relationship of the Lesser Occipital Nerve, Great Auricular Nerve, and Spinal Accessory Nerve and Their Implication in Safety of Operations in the Posterior Triangle of the Neck. Amirlak B, Lu KB, Erickson CR, Sanniec K, Totonchi A, Peled ZM, Cheng JC, Plast Reconstr Surg 2020 09 146 3 509-514
- MR neurography of the brachial plexus in adult and pediatric age groups: evolution, recent advances, and future directions. Mazal AT, Faramarzalian A, Samet JD, Gill K, Cheng J, Chhabra A, Expert Rev Med Devices 2020 Jan
Books
- Peripheral Nerve Compression and Pain. In Pain Management for Clinicians: A Guide to Assessment and Treatment. Lies SR, Kao DS, Cheng J (2020). Heidelberg, Springer
- Upper Extremity Injection Injuries. In Decision Making in Plastic Surgery. Cheng J (2010). St. Louis, QMP
- Upper Extremity Crush Injuries. In Decision Making in Plastic Surgery. Cheng J (2010). St. Louis, QMP
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Professional Activities
- American Association of Plastic Surgeons (2020)
- American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (2014)
- American Society for Surgery of the Hand (2011)
- American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2017)
- Fellow, American College of Surgeons (2012)
- Plastic Surgery Research Council (2011)
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Awards and Honors
- Chair, UT System Faculty Advisory Council (2017-2018)
- President, Faculty Senate (2014-2015), UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Chief of Hand, Peripheral Nerve, and Microvascular Surgery (2013), Division of Plastic Surgery, Children's Medical Center, Dallas
- Co-Director of Microsurgery Fellowship (2012)
- Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (2012)
- Faculty Senator (2010-2015), UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Certificate of Added Qualification in Hand Surgery, American Board of Plastic Surgery (2010), Board Certified Hand Surgeon
- Young Leader, American Society for Surgery of the Hand (2010)
- Diplomate, American Board of Plastic Surgery (2010), Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
- Stephen S. Kroll Memorial Scholarship (2007), International competitively-selected scholarship in microsurgical breast reconstruction and perforator flaps.