Quyen T. Nguyen, MD/PhD
Professor of Surgery
Associate Director, Research Education and Training
Quyen T. Nguyen, MD/PhD joined the UC San Diego Health Sciences faculty in 2007. She is a tenured Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Pharmacology with over 15 years of experience as a surgeon-scientist, principal investigator in basic science, translational research and industry-initiated clinical research.
Dr. Nguyen is the scientific co-founder of two biotech companies aimed at development of injectable probes for identifying tumors and nerves during surgery. She collaborated with Dr. Roger Tsien (1952-2016), Nobel Laureate, Chemistry 2008 over 13 years towards this goal and hold co-inventorships with Dr. Tsien on multiple patents. Their first agent is a protease-dependent tumor localizing agent and was licensed by Avelas Biosciences. This agent is currently enrolling in FDA Phase 2 clinical trial for patients with breast cancer. She is the founder for Alume Biosciences to develop the nerve localizing agent for eventual clinical translation. She has been recognized by several awards, including a Career Award for Medical Scientist by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (2009), the Fowler Award, Triological Society (2012), the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE- 2014) and the NIBIB Edward Nagy New Investigator Award (2014).
Dr. Nguyen earned her bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Southern California and earned her MD/PhD from the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She completed her general surgery internship at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in General Surgery and residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at University of California San Diego. She then went on to complete an ACGME-accredited fellowship program in Neurotology-Skull Base surgery at UCSD before joining the faculty in 2007.
Dr. Nguyen is board certified in Head & Neck Surgery and Neurotology/Skull Base Surgery and is the Director for the Neurotology/Skull Base Surgery clinical fellowship at UCSD. She has a busy clinical practice in otology, skull-base surgery and is the Director of the Facial Nerve Clinic focused on the surgical and medical management of the paralyzed face. She is a member of the Moores Cancer Center (MCC) Executive Committee and is the Associate Director of Education & Training at the MCC.
Contact information:
Quyen Ngyen, MD/PhD
Phone: 858-657-8590
E-mail: q1nguyen@ucsd.edu
Assistant:
Yana H. Campen
Phone: 858-657-6933
Fax: 858-534-5270
E-mail: ycampen@ucsd.edu