Clara Cheng, Ph.D.

Clara Cheng, Ph.D., is a program officer in NICHD’s Fertility and Infertility Branch (FIB), within the Division of Extramural Research, where she directs the uterine function and implantation biology program. She is responsible for a portfolio of grants related to basic and translational studies on uterine function, implantation biology, implantation-based early pregnancy loss, female reproductive tract biology, trophoblast development and differentiation, and interplay of immune and endocrine systems in blastocyst-uterine interaction. She also is the branch contact for Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) applications.

Prior to joining FIB in 2019, Dr. Cheng was a staff scientist in NICHD’s Pediatric Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Genetics Affinity Group, within NICHD’s Division of Intramural Research (DIR), where she studied the role of insulin-like growth factor 1 in brain development and brain aging, as well as the effects of hormonal replacement therapy on brain function. She also worked on translational/clinical studies in Turner syndrome patients to understand the effects of X chromosome deficiency on the endocrine system and reproductive health.

In 2014, she became a scientific review officer in the NIH Center of Scientific Review, where she oversaw the SBIR/STTR review for the Endocrinology, Metabolism, Nutrition, and Reproductive Sciences Integrated Review Group as well as the Pregnancy and Neonatology study section.

Dr. Cheng received her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and completed her postdoctoral training in the Developmental Endocrinology Branch, formerly part of NICHD’s DIR.