Dr. Cheney was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and received his A.B. from Columbia University (1908) and M.D. from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (1911). He interned at the Manhattan State Hospital from 1911–12 and stayed there for the next five years in clinical work and pathology. From 1917–22, he was Assistant Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. In 1922, he went to Utica State Hospital (NY) as Assistant Superintendent and, in 1926, became Superintendent of the Hudson River State Hospital. In 1931, he was appointed director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He retired from the New York State system in 1936 and took the position of Medical Director of the Bloomingdale Hospital Westchester Division of the New York Hospital, where he served until retirement.
Dr. Cheney served as a teacher throughout his professional life: Cornell Medical College, 1917–22; Bellevue Medical School, 1917–18; Syracuse University Medical School, 1922–26; Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University, 1932–36; Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College after 1936. Throughout his career, he contributed to the psychiatric literature.
He was a member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and other organizations. Dr. Cheney was Secretary-Treasurer of the American Psychiatric Association (1928–33) and served as President (1935–36).