New addition to UTRGV cancer care leadership team

The UTRGV School of Medicine, in continuing to uphold its promise to expand and elevate cancer care in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond, has signed its newest addition to the cancer care leadership team, Dr. Diane Duyen Nguyen.

Nguyen will join the UT Health RGV Cancer and Surgery Center as the Kleberg Foundation Endowed Chair and chief of the Division of Medical Oncology (cancer care) in October 2024, to lead, train and oversee the next generation of medical doctors and oncology physicians who are training and practicing at the UTRGV School of Medicine and UT Health RGV.

The Robert J. Kleberg Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation have awarded more than $376M in grants, focused on medical and basic science research.

As part of its ongoing relationship with UTRGV, the foundation established the medical oncology chair to help to support the school’s vision of transforming access, clinical research and delivery of cancer services and oncologic care in the Valley and across South Texas.

ADVANCING VALLEY CANCER CARE

Under the leadership of Dr. Everardo Cobos, Nguyen, who joins UTRGV from the Houston Cancer Treatment & Immunotherapy Center in Houston, will help lead the UTRGV School of Medicine’s Division of Oncology at the UT Health RGV Cancer and Surgery Center, slated to open in early 2025.

This division will encompass various subspecialties in complex and specialized cancer care, with local multispecialty clinics. In addition to heading the cancer care service line, Nugyen will help lead multiple subspecialties, including her own specialty as a practicing hematologist and oncologist.

Cobos, chair of the Department of Medicine and Oncology and the Cancer Center Line Director at the UTRGV School of Medicine, said Nguyen will help advance the school’s cancer care.

“Dr. Nguyen brings more than a decade of cancer specialty care. She will work closely with our faculty to lead our unit’s growth across all mission areas and prepare resident physicians for successful careers in medicine,” he said. “She is an excellent addition to our team and will help enhance our cancer care for the Valley.”

Dr. Michael B. Hocker, senior vice president for UT Health RGV and dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine, said naming Nguyen as the new Kleberg Endowed Chair and chief of Oncology will allow the area to benefit from her extensive oncology experience. Additionally, the School of Medicine will be able to enhance curriculum, provide greater learning opportunities for future medical providers, and create active interfaces with other departments in the School of Medicine and UT Health RGV.

“We strive to shape the future of medicine by developing and providing what is needed to revolutionize cancer care,” Hocker said. “Having experienced physicians like Dr. Nguyen as part of our medical institution will help us be part of the nationwide system of care and innovation academic medical institutions provide.

“We are excited to have a physician of her stature on our team as we work to reduce the burden of advanced and untreated cancers for patients here in the Valley,” he said.

MORE ABOUT NGUYEN

As a dual board-certified medical oncologist and hematologist by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Nguyen has more than 15 years of clinical and research experience in those fields.

She has practiced in the diagnosis and treatment of the following cancers:

• Breast.
• Ovarian, Cervical, Uterine.
• Gastrointestinal, Bladder.
• Lung.
• Prostate.
• Sarcoma.
• Brain, Head and Neck.

She also is experienced in providing care and treatment for Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma and Myelodysplastic Syndrome with Chemotherapy, Immunotherapy and Targeted therapy.

Nguyen has published numerous articles in Immunotherapy Oncology for breast, ovarian, lung, head and neck cancers, myeloma and other malignancies.

She completed her Medical Oncology/Hematology Fellowship training at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and her Internal Medicine residency at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Hocker said Nguyen will be critical in UTRGV’s efforts to advance cancer care under the new UT Health Cancer and Surgery Center.

“We are grateful for the generous support of the Kleberg Foundation allowing us to recruit Dr. Nguyen so she can help further current clinical research in cancer, in collaboration as part of our scientific teams doing work on the immunology of cancer,” he said. “We look forward to working with her to help develop the UTRGV School of Medicine in its mission to transform the health of the Valley through advanced academic medicine, especially through our oncology care.”