Prof. Cheng is a registered occupational therapist, chartered safety and health practitioner, certified work capacity evaluator, and registered driving assessor. He received his professional training in occupational therapy at former Hong Kong Polytechnic. He got his bachelor’s degree in Health and Safety at Curtin University and completed his MPhil and PhD in the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and certificate course in big data analysis from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He was the first Asian recipient of Canadian Institutes of Health Research Scholarship for postgraduate training on the Work Disability Prevention CIHR Strategic Training Programme at Université de Sherbrooke and University of Toronto.

Prof. Cheng was the President of the Hong Kong Ergonomics Society, Council Member of the International Ergonomics Association, and Member of Hong Kong Occupational Therapists Board. Currently, he is Treasurer of the Chinese Association of Ergonomics Societies, Associate Editor of American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Approved Assessor for persons with disabilities under the Minimum Wage Ordinance by Labour Department, Specialist of the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic & Vocational Qualifications, and Vice Chairperson of Hong Kong Occupational Therapy Association. Prior to joining the Department, he worked as an occupational therapist in public hospitals and then ran his own private rehabilitation centres. He has extensive experience in hand rehabilitation and medico-legal evaluation for work-injured cases.

Prof. Cheng’s research interest is centered on Work Disability Prevention and Management for injured workers, occupational drivers, and cancer survivors. His research agenda is organized around three core questions: 1) What are the human factors resulting in occupational injury? 2) What are the risk factors in delayed return-to-work (RTW)? and 3) How different RTW interventions, including both rehabilitative and administrative strategies, can promote timely and safe RTW? 

• Hand and occupational rehabilitation
• Driver assessment and rehabilitation
• Ergonomics and work-related musculoskeletal disorders
• Cancer survivorship