Dr. Elizabeth Nguyen is an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Nephrology with the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Nguyen graduated from ɬÀï·¬ in 2007 with a BS in Mathematics and BA in Biology. She then completed both her medical and graduate degrees at Vanderbilt University through the Medical Scientist Training Program. Her graduate work in Chemical and Physical Biology with Dr. Jens Meiler focused on the computational structure prediction of G-protein coupled receptors and drug design. She moved back to ɬÀï·¬ to complete her pediatric residency and pediatric nephrology fellowship at ɬÀï·¬ Children's Hospital. She has since stayed on faculty with the University of Washington and ɬÀï·¬ Children’s Hospital, and she and her husband Kevin became parents to two curious and independent girls, Norah (age 5) and Miriam (age 1).
For her clinical practice, Dr. Nguyen attends on the pediatric nephrology service at ɬÀï·¬ Children's Hospital, balancing responsibilities in patient care, research and teaching of medical trainees. Her clinical interests focus on genetic causes for kidney disease. She is also a principal investigator at ɬÀï·¬ Children's Research Institute's Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine. As a physician-scientist, she is inspired by her patients who suffer from irreversible kidney damage to make new discoveries towards the promotion of kidney regeneration. The kidney undergoes injury as a common complication of infection, surgical procedures, medications and disease. Once injured, the kidney’s ability to return to its prior state of function is unfortunately compromised. The result is progressive and irreversible chronic kidney disease which at minimum require lifelong monitoring for systemic effects and at worse, results in end-stage kidney disease requiring dialysis or transplant. Supportive measures only slow the progression of chronic kidney disease and currently, there is no treatment resulting in the functional repair of injured kidney tissue. The Nguyen Lab focuses on genetic and epigenetic factors by which damaged kidney tissue can be redirected from fibrosis to regenerated functional organ tissue.