Dr. Quan Dong Nguyen named chairman of ophthalmology

A retina and uveitis specialist from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Quan Dong Nguyen, M.D., has been named McGaw Professor and chairman of the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences and director of the Stanley M. Truhlsen Eye Institute.

Quan Dong Nguyen, M.D.

Dr. Nguyen’s appointment is effective March 1, 2013, said Brad Britigan, M.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine, and will coincide with the opening of the Truhlsen Eye Institute next spring.

“I am thrilled to have Dr. Nguyen join the UNMC team,” Dr. Britigan said. “He comes from an outstanding eye institute at one of the top medical schools in the country.

“I am confident that he has the experience and leadership we need to take our ophthalmology program to the next level.”

Renowned expertise

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Dr. Nguyen is an associate professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute. He serves as principal investigator and chair of several multicenter clinical trials sponsored by the National Eye Institute and other organizations for:

• Diabetic macular edema;
  
• Neovascular age-related macular degeneration; and
  
• Ocular inflammatory and uveitic diseases.

Dr. Nguyen is known for his innovative evaluation of novel therapeutic agents. Among his many honors is the Carl Camras Translational Research Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Foundation, established to honor the late Dr. Camras, former chairman of the department of ophthalmology at UNMC.

UNMC a double winner

“The opportunity to lead a department that has been in existence since 1898 when Dr. Harold Gifford first established it and to make the Truhlsen Eye Institute into one of the leading academic ophthalmology centers in the United States is truly exceptional,” Dr. Nguyen said.

Dr. Nguyen’s wife, Diana Do, M.D., also is a retina specialist at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins and will join the UNMC faculty as an associate professor and director of the Center for Innovative Clinical Trials in Ophthalmology at the Truhlsen Eye Institute.