He became a doctoral tutor in 1998 and was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2001. Professor Zheng has contributed greatly to the progress of general surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine since his return from Hong Kong in 1992. He initiated the training program for organ transplantation at the hospital the same year and carried out orthotopic liver transplantation in 1993, combined pancreas-kidney trans-plantation in 1994, combined liver-kidney transplantation in 1999, and living-related liver transplantation in 2001. To the present, a total of 134 patients have undergone liver transplantation successfully at his hospital with a 1-year survival rate of 85% for patients with end-stage liver diseases and a 2-year survival rate of 80% for others. By the end of 1997, combined pancreas-kidney transplantation was performed in 6 patients with a longest survival of over 8 years, and combined liver-kidney transplantation in 6 patients with a longest survival of 3 years, a national survival record.

Professor Zheng is active in basic and clinical research, especially in immunology of organ transplantation, graft injury and preservation. At present, he is responsible for two national projects and eight provincial projects in his specialties. He is a winner of national science award and four provincial prizes for science and technology advancement. As a tutor of post doctors, doctors, and postgraduates, he published over 127 papers in core medical journals national or international and 19 monographs or books as chief editor or coeditor. He holds many governmental or organizational positions, including member of the Life Science Committee, Ministry of Education and director of Key Laboratory of Multi-Organ Transplantation, Ministry of Health, China.