Humble beginnings: Three generations impact medicine

When 12-year-old Huy Nguyen and his family escaped Vietnam as refugees, they had no idea what their life in the United States would look like. They just knew they needed to leave their native homeland. “When we left, there was literally a bombing at the airport and we very narrowly escaped,” said Nguyen.

Starting from such dire circumstances, they never could have imagined that three generations of their family would eventually make names for themselves in health care and medicine.

After the Nguyens arrived in the US, they were sponsored by a church group in Davenport, Iowa, so they moved there from California. Nguyen’s father worked as a museum security guard, and his mother cleaned houses to support his dad through school. Because his father injured his back while serving in the Vietnamese military, he sought relief from a chiropractor. He found the treatment so unique and effective that he wanted to pursue becoming a chiropractor. After earning his general equivalency degree and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from St. Ambrose University, Nguyen’s father attended Palmer College of Chiropractic, the world’s first chiropractic school. In 1981, he became the first Vietnamese chiropractor in America and opened his own chiropractic practice in California, which he operated until 2004.

The younger Nguyen’s career path was greatly influenced by his father’s, but he also paved his own way. He was drawn to osteopathic medicine because, while it incorporates manipulation, as his father did in his chiropractic practice, he wanted to practice medicine to the fullest extent. “I saw chiropractic manipulation as something that was unique and helpful,” he said, “but I also wanted to do more. I wanted to be able to prescribe medications, perform surgery, all of it.”

Nguyen earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Kansas City University in 1992. He went on to a general and advanced laparoscopic surgery residency at Peninsula Hospital Center in New York City. Following residency, he returned to California to establish a surgery practice and later founded Advanced Surgical Associates, where he still practices today. His brother Nang followed Nguyen’s footsteps, graduating from KCU in 1998. In 2004, he joined his brother's surgery practice. Their other brother Richard, who earned a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Touro University California, also later joined the practice. “We are known in the Bay Area as the Nguyen brothers,” he said with pride. The surgery group now has seven surgeons, including orthopedic and ear, nose and throat surgeons.

An Uphill Battle for Osteopathy

In the early '90s, when Huy Nguyen attended KCU, there were only 15 osteopathic medical schools in the U.S. and only 5 percent of physicians in the country were DOs. After Nguyen returned to California to establish his private practice, he was met with significant discrimination against osteopathic physicians. He was the first osteopathic surgeon in the San Jose area, and admission to hospitals was a struggle as he built his patient base. Approximately four years later, his commitment and hard work paid off and he became the busiest surgeon in county. Today, about 20 percent of physicians in the Bay Area are osteopathic physicians. On the national level, strides have been made as well. The US now has 41 osteopathic medical schools, with new schools being developed across the country, and 25 percent of physicians nationwide are DOs.

Nguyen fought against the discrimination he faced by striving to become the best surgeon he could be. “The best way to change hearts and minds is to be better than the competition,” he said. When he began his surgical practice, minimally invasive surgery was in its infancy. He was the first surgeon on the West Coast to perform a single-incision laparoscopic gallbladder removal. In 2008, he became the first in the nation to perform a single-incision laparoscopic colon resection. Four years later, with his brother Nang assisting, he became the first in California’s Bay Area to remove a gallbladder using single-site robotic surgery. From 2012 to 2014, Nguyen worked with Intuitive, a pioneer in robotic-assisted surgery and maker of da Vinci surgical systems, where he earned further renown as the first surgeon in the world to perform a single-incision, robotic-assisted removal of a gallbladder.

Focus on the Next Generation

During his 26 years in San Jose, Nguyen noticed the physician population was aging and fewer young physicians were attracted to the area because of the high cost of living. Hoping to reverse the trend, he established a primary care group to encourage the next generation of doctors to the Bay Area. In addition to Advanced Surgical Associates, Nguyen now owns Top Care Medical Group, a primary care practice with 13 physicians and eight clinics. His wife, Megan, serves as chief executive officer for both practices.

He feels passionate about reversing the trend to make sure patients have sufficient access to treatment. In addition, he continues to serve a diverse patient population, including the Vietnamese community in San Jose, which makes up about 10 percent of the city’s population.

Both Huy and Megan Nguyen are immensely dedicated to training future osteopathic physicians. Their practices have partnered with KCU for the last five years as a KCU Core Site, facilitating a clerkship program in the Bay Area for KCU’s third-year medical students. Nguyen is a regional assistant dean, and Megan is the site coordinator. Their program currently accommodates 26 students, but the Nguyens want to expand – hoping to nearly double their capacity to 50.

Passing on the Nguyen legacy to the next generation is both personal and professional for Nguyen. When they were young, his two sons took an interest in medicine and would shadow their dad on hospital rounds. Now, they too are pursuing careers in osteopathic medicine. One graduated from KCU in 2023 and is a first-year surgical resident in Ventura, California. The other graduated from KCU in 2024, placing into a family medicine residency in Stockton, California, with aspirations of becoming a family physician. A dream-come-true moment in Nguyen’s life happened earlier this year when he, his two sons, and his brother Nang scrubbed in together for a surgical procedure. “When I think about my family’s humble beginnings, my dad struggling to become a chiropractor, my brothers and I becoming surgeons and all the challenges we’ve faced, I feel so proud of what we’ve built,” he said.