IRENE HEINZ GIVEN and JOHN LaPORTE GIVEN, married in 1899, provided generous support to medical institutions and universities nationwide. The Givens made their home in Vermont, and Mrs. Given–the daughter of Henry J. Heinz, founder of the H.J. Heinz Company–was active in civic life. In memory of their father and grandmother, Mrs. Given and her brothers established the Heinz Memorial Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh. Mr. Given, who had founded an advertising firm and was the author of Making a Newspaper, went on to join the Heinz Company as advertising counsel and a member of the board of directors. The Givens endowed professorships at several schools, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, and Middlebury College. Mrs. Given died in 1956, and Mr. Given in 1957.
Given Foundation Professorship in Pediatrics
School of Medicine
Established in 1962 by the Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Foundation
Held by Tina Cheng
TINA CHENG, MD, MPH, is the Given Foundation Professor of Pediatrics, director of the Department of Pediatrics for the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Cheng has also been named co-director of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and works closely with David Hackam, MD, PhD, chief of pediatric surgery, to help manage the Children’s Center’s clinical and research centers.
Cheng, who has developed community-integrated models of primary care to address the needs of vulnerable children, adolescents and families, currently serves as a professor of pediatrics in the school of medicine with a joint appointment in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also director of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics in the school of medicine and chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Additionally, she oversees Johns Hopkins’ Harriet Lane Clinic, as well as Johns Hopkins Bayview’s Pediatric Center for emergency and inpatient care, the Children’s Medical Practice, and the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy pediatric practice.
Cheng is also an educator, researcher and administrator. She founded the Generations Clinic in Washington, DC, a teen and tot clinic that has been recognized as an evidence-based best practice in reducing rapid repeat pregnancy. She is also co-leading an innovative model of school health at the KIPP Baltimore schools to improve health and academic outcomes.
Cheng’s clinical work, teaching and research focus on child and adolescent health disparities. She has been a principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health-funded DC-Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities with Howard University and Children’s National Medical Center since 2002, and through this work developed a research action agenda on child health disparities. She also led the establishment of Johns Hopkins Centro SOL: Center for Salud/Health and Opportunity for Latinos and the Rales Center for the Integration of Health and Education. These centers address health disparities through multisector, community-oriented innovation.
With more than 150 publications, Cheng is a widely recognized expert in her field, and she is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and seminars. She has been the principal investigator on numerous federal and foundation grants, and has conducted randomized trials of primary care and emergency department-initiated interventions in partnership with community services to promote positive youth development and family health.
Cheng earned her medical degree from Brown University and her master’s degree in public health with a focus in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her pediatric residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and served as pediatric chief resident at San Francisco General Hospital.