Joseph Y. Cheung, M.D.

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SUMMARY

Joseph Y. Cheung, M.D., M.S., is a physician-scientist in sleep medicine whose work focuses on applying large language models and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve clinical decision support and healthcare delivery. His expertise spans neuroscience, genetics and genomics, and sleep medicine. He places particular emphasis on integrating AI and generative technologies to strengthen diagnostic capabilities, streamline clinician workflows and enhance patient outcomes.

Focus areas

• Agentic AI in clinical practice. Dr. Cheung and his team are building a conversational agent to help gather a brief previsit history from patients. This AI‑powered chatbot collects both structured information and narrative descriptions of symptoms. Using agentic AI, it guides patients through their symptom reports to obtain a more complete clinical history. The resulting clinician‑ready summaries are designed to enhance patient experience and streamline clinical workflows.
• AI clinical decision support. Dr. Cheung and his team use Mayo Clinic Platform data to prepare high‑quality clinical datasets. These domain‑specific, curated datasets will be used to posttrain large language models — through reinforcement learning, supervised fine‑tuning and retrieval‑augmented generation — to yield better models that support clinical decision‑making in sleep medicine and other medical disciplines.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Cheung's research makes sleep care more accurate and easier to access. AI is changing the way healthcare is delivered, but doctors continue to guide how these tools are used. Dr. Cheung and his team create AI tools that help diagnose diseases and conditions more quickly and make care faster and more efficient for patients.

Professional highlights

• Fellow, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2022-present.
• Associate editor, Editorial board, Frontiers in Sleep, 2021-present.
• Mayo Clinic:
  • Research Accelerator for Clinicians Engaged in Research Plus Award, 2023-2024.
  • Department of Medicine Catalyst Award, 2021-2022.
  • Research Accelerator for Clinicians Engaged in Research Award, 2021.
• Wayne A. Hening Sleep Medicine Investigator Award, American Academy of Neurology, 2023.