Don X. Nguyen, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical Oncology at Yale School of Medicine, earned his B.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology from McGill University in 1998 and his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Rochester in 2004. He completed postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2009 before joining the Yale faculty in 2010. As principal investigator of the Nguyen Lab, his research employs multidisciplinary approaches to study the cellular and molecular origins of invasive cancers originating from the lungs. The lab addresses how the biology of cancer metastasis relates to normal physiological processes, with expertise in epigenomics, genomics, inflammation, neoplasm metastasis, neoplasm micrometastasis, pathology, and the tumor microenvironment. Nguyen's team has developed novel models of metastasis and holds recognized expertise in central nervous system metastasis biology.

Recent studies from the Nguyen laboratory have elucidated the role of cell lineage control during tumor progression, epigenetic regulation of cell-cell communication in disseminating tumor cells, and mechanistic links between drug resistance and brain metastasis. Key publications include "Control of Alveolar Differentiation by the Lineage Transcription Factors GATA6 and HOPX Inhibits Lung Adenocarcinoma Metastasis" (Cancer Cell, 2013), "Tumor progression and chromatin landscape of lung cancer are regulated by the lineage factor GATA6" (Oncogene, 2020), "Brain metastatic outgrowth and osimertinib resistance are potentiated by RhoA in EGFR-mutant lung cancer" (Nature Communications, 2022), "An in vivo screen identifies NAT10 as a master regulator of brain metastasis" (Science Advances, 2025), and "Preclinical Models of Solid Cancers for Testing Cancer Immunotherapies" (Annual Review of Cancer Biology, 2025). Nguyen co-leads the Cancer Signaling Networks program at Yale Cancer Center and serves as Co-Director of the Pathology and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program. His honors include the IASLC Young Investigator Award (2012), Stewart Trust Scholar (2013), 2013 Basic Research Prize (Yale Cancer Center), Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Scholar (2011), and Class of 1961 Cancer Research Award (2021).

Professional Email: don.nguyen@yale.edu