Kim-Son Nguyen, M.D.

Dr. Nguyen is strongly committed to delivering excellent, personalized, compassionate cancer care using the best treatments, including access to clinical trials.

Co-Director of Vietnam Project, International Program, American Society of Clinical Oncology

Dr. Nguyen is passionate about delivering the best cancer care to patients everywhere. He also enjoys marathon running, road biking and writing.

Dr. Nguyen received his AB degree from Harvard College, Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School, and Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School before completing a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Cancer Institute. While maintaining a very busy clinical practice at Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Dr. Nguyen is also an adjunct clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, with research interests including molecular epidemiology of lung cancer, cancer screening, and cancer therapeutics. He is the principal investigator or co-investigator on many trials involving new cancer therapies and immunology.

He has worked for years in global oncology, directing the American Society of Clinical Oncology International program in Vietnam, bringing the latest oncology knowledge to cancer-treating physicians in resource-limited settings and implementing projects to deliver cancer care to patients in developing countries.

With extensive training and experience in cancer genetics, clinical research, and public policy, Dr. Nguyen brings exceptional medical care to the clinic. “I want to provide the kind of care that I would want for my own family,” he often shares with his colleagues, “the kind of care that uses the latest scientific advances but is personalized for each individual. I never see a patient in front of me, but a mother, father, wife, husband, daughter, or son, with their unique goals in life, their unique hopes and dreams.”

Dr. Nguyen believes in empowering patients with the latest knowledge to help them make decisions. As a member of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation cancer team, he works with other well-trained, talented physicians, nurses, nutritionists, social workers, physical therapists, and staff to support patients physically and emotionally throughout their treatment course. Because cancer patients cannot wait for certain new, potentially life-saving drugs to be approved, Dr. Nguyen always looks for the most appropriate clinical trials, either within Palo Alto Medical Foundation or at any other institution around the world, for his patients when conventional treatments are no longer effective.