Illuminating the Invisible with Dr. Quyen Nguyen

Dr. Rapoport: The path of a surgeon– scientist is undoubtedly challenging. How important was mentorship in your career, especially in balancing clinical work and research?

Dr. Nguyen: Mentorship was, and remains, incredibly valuable to me. I was very fortunate to have Dr. Jeff Harris as my chair at UC San Diego for the majority of my career. He has been a steadfast supporter and sponsor, providing me with the flexibility and protected research time to pursue my ideas. He supported me through a K award and my first RO1 grant, and he had the patience to wait for my projects to come to fruition. That has been the greatest gift.

Working with Dr. Tsien was also a formative experience. He had a brilliant, animated mind. He would visualize molecular structures in three dimensions that he would draw you into, so that you, too, could relate to this microscopic world. He made learning joyful and taught me the importance of understanding things at a fundamental level.

Dr. Rapoport: What is your vision for Bevonescein, the nerve-illuminating drug now undergoing human studies?

Dr. Nguyen: I want it to become standard-of-care—and accessible everywhere. The drug is infused into a patient’s intravenous fluids before surgery. Then, once they have exposed the operative field, surgeons can use a blue excitation light and a simple filter to visualize the nerves with Bevonescein. You don’t need an $800,000 Da Vinci robot or a $1 million microscope. A headlight and loupes are enough.

That accessibility matters for global surgery, for resource-limited settings, for democratizing safety.

One of my favorite serendipitous moments: The drug is water-soluble, so urine fluoresces! In abdominal surgery, when Bevonescein is used, you can actually see ureteral peristalsis as a moving wave of light. Urologists and colorectal surgeons love it.

Dr. Rapoport: Looking back on your journey, what is a defining piece of advice you would give to young physicians and aspiring surgeon–scientists?

Dr. Nguyen: I would say that staying clinical is critical. It’s what motivates you. It constantly reminds you why you are doing what you are doing. I had a patient once who wrote me a note that said, “I know that the number of patients you’ll operate on is finite, and I feel really fortunate that I’m one of them.” This idea touched me deeply. Our impact—clinical or scientific—is finite. We have to choose where we want that impact to land and organize our lives around that.