Tung Nguyen, MD, has accepted the role of associate vice chancellor for Research – Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (AVC Research – IDEA). The role of the AVC Research – IDEA is to ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are embedded throughout the UCSF research enterprise through policies, practices, and value alignment toward developing a research environment that proactively addresses racism and all aspects of inequity and discrimination. This is an exciting new role that will be a member of the UCSF Office of Research leadership team.
Dr. Nguyen will guide UCSF’s research enterprise in defining its priorities according to these tenets of our university. Reporting to the vice chancellor for Research, with a dotted line to the vice chancellor of the Office of Diversity and Outreach, he also will work closely with the research deans in the schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy as well as the Graduate Division to build on the 2021 recommendations made by the Office of Research Task Force on Equity and Anti-Racism in Research.
A longstanding member of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Community Engagement and Health Policy core, Dr. Nguyen joined CTSI leadership in 2021 as director of the Research Action Group for Equity (RAGE), which aims to increase the participation of racial and ethnic minorities in health research. Dr. Nguyen also serves as a principal investigator of SF BUILD, an NIH-funded partnership between UCSF and San Francisco State University to promote health research workforce diversity. Additionally, he serves as associate director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. In his new role, Dr. Nguyen will also serve as one of three principal investigators for the Clinical and Translational Science Award that supports CTSI.
Dr. Nguyen came to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, as a 10-year-old refugee who did not speak English. He grew up in San Jose, CA, received his BA in Philosophy from Harvard University and MD from Stanford University, and completed his primary care medicine residency at UCSF.