Hong Zheng

Hong Zheng is a dual-appointed Professor at Penn State College of Medicine, holding positions in the Department of Medicine Division of Hematology and Oncology and the Department of Molecular and Precision Medicine. She serves as a core faculty member at the Penn State Cancer Institute within the Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis program.

Her educational background includes:

• MD in Clinical Medicine from Capital Medical University (1995)
• PhD in Immunology from University of Connecticut (2003)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University (2007)
• Residency in Internal Medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (2010)
• Fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Yale University (2013)

Dr. Zheng's research centers on transplant immunology and developmental therapeutics for leukemia, with particular focus on improving understanding of immune responses in leukemia pathogenesis and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Her laboratory investigates T-cell inhibitory mechanisms to enhance anti-leukemia immunity, while her clinical work involves developing early-phase immunotherapy trials. Key research areas span T-cell immunology (100% prominence), Acute Myeloid Leukemia (76%), Allogeneic HSCT (62%), Myeloid disorders (49%), and Graft-versus-Host Disease (45%).

Analysis of her recent publications (2021-2025) reveals a strong emphasis on translating immunological insights into clinical applications, particularly in optimizing stem cell transplantation protocols, developing novel immunotherapies, and understanding mechanisms of treatment resistance in hematologic malignancies. Her work consistently bridges laboratory findings with clinical trial implementation.

Dr. Zheng is board-certified in Hematology and Medical Oncology, with clinical expertise in hematological malignancies including leukemia and lymphoma, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Her contributions align with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health and well-being.

She actively mentors research through her laboratory studies targeting T-cell mechanisms and participates in multi-institutional collaborations evident from her co-authorship patterns across institutions including Yale University and Penn State Health. Current research focuses on engineering cellular therapies and developing precision approaches to transplantation complications.