Kenneth P. Cheng, MD

Kenneth P. Cheng, MD has spent his entire medical career with a passion for patient advocacy. He has devoted himself over many years to protect ophthalmology as a profession and the high standards of surgical safety and quality eye care for patients. Throughout his 32 years as an ophthalmologist, Ken has publicly called for Individual involvement in advocacy and has been an active leader in organizations at every level.  As a board member of the Pittsburgh Ophthalmology Society where he served as president from 2003-2005, he continues to serve as its legislative chair.  He has sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology since 2002 and served as its president from 2009-2011.  He became their Secretary of Legislation and Regulation in 2014 and continues to be a strong advocate in the state legislature advising the board as its Secretary of Public Health. He has held leadership positions in the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.  He is an AAO Councilor Emeritus and served as both a member, and later chair of the Academy’s Surgical Scope Fund Committee where he proved himself repeatedly by strategizing, raising funds, and battling a rising number of scope of practice bills across the nation. He also served as a regional representative to the Secretariat for State Affairs representing the Metro East (DE, NJ, NY, PA) Dr. Cheng continues to work locally in Pennsylvania alongside state lawmakers to protect patient safety and preserve the ophthalmology-led eye care team.  He was instrumental in the successful passage of 2020 legislation that defines and restricts surgical eye procedures to ophthalmologists in Pennsylvania.  Dr. Cheng championed a vision screening bill, also enacted in 2020, that provides necessary childhood vision screening without requiring multiple costly and often unnecessary comprehensive examinations for all school age children as required by a competing optometric supported bill. Perhaps most impressive is Dr Cheng’s commitment to educating other ophthalmologists, starting from residency, in the importance and methods of effective advocacy.  He has mentored, encouraged, and inspired numerous ophthalmologists to get directly involved in patient advocacy efforts and active in their ophthalmology societies, thereby helping to create future leaders in ophthalmology. Dr. Cheng attended the University of Pittsburgh for both his bachelor’s and medical degree.  He went on to complete his ophthalmology residency at the Eye and Ear Hospital of Pittsburgh and completed his Pediatric and Strabismus fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.  He joined a group pediatric practice early on, but soon after launched a solo practice in suburban Pittsburgh where he continued to practice until retirement in June of 2021. The Secretariat for State Affairs is honored to present Dr. Cheng with its 2021 Hall of Fame Award.