Lei Cheng

Dr. Cheng earned her bachelor’s degree from the School of Nursing at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, master’s and doctoral degrees at the School of Nursing, Fudan University. Her dissertation focused on evidence implementation framework in nursing practice in China. From 2016 to 2017, Dr. Cheng was a joint PhD student at Duke University, where she participated in research on implementation science and supportive care for pediatric cancer. From 2019 to 2020, she was a visiting scholar at the Department of Nursing Science, Professional Practice & Quality at the National Children’s Hospital, where she participated in research on pediatric patient-reported outcomes and palliative care. Her current research is committed to improving the quality of care and overall well-being of children with serious illnesses and their families throughout the entire disease trajectory. Her research has been supported by competitive grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Association for Science and Technology, the Shanghai Pujiang Program, and the China Medical Board. As a 2025 Fellow of the China Medical Board Global Health Leadership Development Program, she will undertake a one-year fellowship training at Yale School of Medicine, including a nine-month field placement at the School of Public Health Nursing in Ghana. Under the mentorship of Drs LaRon E. Nelson and Shelli L. Feder from Yale, and Esther Boatemaa Agyapong from Ghana, her project will focus on strengthening the capacity of community health volunteers to enhance the delivery of pediatric palliative care services.