Professor Cheong studies the mechanisms underlying cancer development, particularly focusing on head and neck cancers. She has developed innovative tools for the early detection and follow-up of patients with high-risk oral lesions and oral cancer. She has won many international awards throughout her career, including the L'Oreal For Women in Science Award (2008) and the International Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathologists President's Award (2020).

She has been an Adjunct Professor at Universiti Malaya since 2009, Full Professor since 2019, and Visiting Professor at UTM (2017). Internationally, she has held positions at the University of Khon Kaen (2012, 2015), Airlangga University (2022). She became a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in 2019.