Biography

Andy Nguyen received his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Houston. He had been working as a mechanical engineer for 5 years in design/construction industry prior to enrolling in medical school. He obtained his MD degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston and received his pathology residency training from the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Texas Medical Center at Houston. After completing his residency, he stayed on as a faculty member and is currently a Full Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He has served as the medical director of Hematology and Coagulation Laboratory at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (1993-2021). He has clinical and research interests in hematopathology, coagulopathy, and pathology informatics. Dr. Nguyen has published numerous scientific papers, written many invited review articles, and contributed to several textbooks. He has also received multiple teaching awards from the Pathology Department and from the Office of the Dean.

Key clinical and scientific contributions:

-With an extensive background in computer programming, he has developed decision-support software modules covering various aspects in hematology, coagulation, and molecular hematopathology (http://hemepathreview.com)

-Established a new hemotherapy service at Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center in 2012 to successfully provide transfusion support for heart-transplant and ventricular-assist device patients. He has served as the medical director of Hemotherapy service for advanced heart failure patients at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (2012-2014)

-Published research findings on significant topics in benign/malignant hematologic disorders, coagulopathy, hematologic mutations, and pathology informatics.

-Currently (2022) chairing the whole slide imaging (WSI) task group in the department of Pathology to select and implement WSI scanners to allow pathologists to sign out pathology cases using digital images.

-His current research interests lie in designing deep learning software (an advanced form of artificial intelligence) for screening and diagnosis of pathologic lesions using whole slide imaging (WSI) from various organ systems including lymphoma (lymphoid system), carcinoma (breast). Of particular interest is his current research to screen for breast cancer metastasis with only a small set of image patches from any sentinel lymph node to detect changes in tumor environment and not the tumor itself. This approach is unique since it provides a very rapid screen rather than an exhaustive search for tumor in all fields of all lymph nodes. His group obtained excellent predictive results for cancer metastasis in this study, which provide a proof of concept for incorporating automated metastatic screen into the digital pathology workflow to augment the pathologists’ productivity. Results from these studies have been presented at various national meetings (United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology annual meeting, March 19 – 24, 2022, Los Angeles, CA; Texas Society of Pathologists Meeting, April 1-3, 2022, Houston, Texas; The 8th Digital Pathology & Artificial Intelligence Congress, June 14-15, 2022, New York, NY). Since Deep Learning model is not specific to any pathology subspecialties, the successful application of this model in breast cancer screening may potentially expand to other subspecialties in pathologies (GI, GU, renal, etc.) with appropriate training and testing cases. He plans to collaborate with colleagues in multiple subspecialties in this direction.

-Ongoing Pathology informatic outreach for underdeveloped countries through online telepathology with WSI, online conferences, and teaching trips.

Education

Chief Resident
Clinical Pathology, UTHealth, Houston, TX 1993
Residency
Clinical Pathology, UTHealth, Houston, TX 1993
MD
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, 1989
M.S.
Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 1983
B.S.
Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 1980

Areas of Interest

Clinical Interests

Hematopathology, Coagulation, and Pathology Informatics

Research Interests

Hematopathology, Coagulation, and Pathology Informatics

  • Benign and malignant hematopathology
  • Coagulopathy in various clinical settings
  • Application of pathology informatics in decision-support systems
  • Digital Pathology with Whole-Slide-Imaging (WSI)
  • Deep learning in pathology

Publications

Visit the PubMed profile page

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications:

  • Richard S.P. Huang, Elena Nedelcu, Yu Bai,  Amer Wahed,  Kimberly Klein, Hlaing Tint, Igor Gregoric,  Manish Patel, Biswajit Kar ,Pranav Loyalka, Sriram Nathan,  Rajko Radovancevic,  Andy N.D. Nguyen. Post-Operative Bleeding Risk Stratification in Cardiac Pulmonary Bypass Patients Using Artificial Neural Network. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2015 Spring;45(2):181-6. PMID: 25887872.
  • Richard S.P. Huang, Mark M. McDonald, Jeremy S. Wetzel, Jorge Kawano-Castillo, Stephanie Parker, Joancy Archeval-Lao, Chunyan Cai, Andy N.D. Nguyen, James C. Grotta. Clot Strength as Measured by Thrombelastography Correlates with Platelet Reactivity in Stroke Patients. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2015 Spring;45(3):301-7. PMID: 26116594.
  • Andres Quesada, Ashok Tholpady, Brian Chang, Audrey Wanger, Andy Nguyen, Lei Chen. Utility of Bone Marrow examination for workup of fever of unknown origin in HIV patients. J Clin Pathol. 2015 Mar;68(3):241-5. PMID: 25589792.
  • Kerry J. Welsh, Elena Nedelcu, Amer Wahed, Yu Bai, Amitava Dasgupta, and Andy N.D. Nguyen. Bioinformatics analysis to determine prognostic mutations of 72 de novo acute myeloid leukemia cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) with 23 most common mutations and no abnormal cytogenetics.  Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science. Volume 45, # 5 (September – October) 2015.
  • Kerry J. Welsh MD, PhD; Amitava Dasgupta, PhD; Andy N.D. Nguyen, MD; and Amer Wahed, MD. Utility of VerifyNow for point-of-care identification of an aspirin effect prior to emergency cardiac surgery. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2015 Jul;45(4):377-81. PMID: 26275687.
  • Semyon A. Risin, Brian N. Chang, Kerry J. Welsh, Laura R. Kidd, Vanessa Moreno, Lei Chen, Ashok Tholpady, Amer Wahed, Nghia Nguyen, Marylee Kott, and Robert L. Hunter.  Exploring New Ways to Deliver Value to Healthcare Organizations: Algorithmic Testing, Data Integration, and Diagnostic E-consult Service. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2015 Spring;45(3):239-47. PMID: 26116586.
  • Lei Chen, MD; Kerry J. Welsh, MD, Ph.D; Binh Nguyen, MD; Marylee Kott, MD; Mohammad Zare, MD; Kelley Carroll, MD; Andy Nguyen, MD; Amer Wahed, MD, Laura Kidd, M.D; Vanessa Moreno, M.D; Norin Pung, CLS, MBA; Donna McKee, RN, Ashok Tholpady, MD; Brian Chang, MD; Semyon Risin, MD, Ph.D; Robert Hunter, MD, Ph.D. Algorithmic approach with clinical pathology consultation improves access to specialty care for systemic lupus erythematosus patients.. American Journal of Clinical Pathology. 2016 Sep;146(3):312-8. PMID: 27510715.
  • Robert E. Brown, Kristine E. Konopka, Vanya Jaitly, Amitava Dasgupta, Mary F McGuire, Nghia D. Nguyen. Morphoproteomics Identifies Sirt1 and EZH2 Pathways as Commonalities in B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Pathogenetic Implications and Opportunities for Therapeutic Intervention. Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science, 2017 Spring, 47(1), 3-9. PMID: 28249909.
  • Christine A. Liang, MD, Lei Chen, MD, Amer Wahed, MD, Andy N.D. Nguyen, MD. Proteomics Analysis of FLT3-ITD Mutation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Using Deep Learning Neural Network. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2019 Jan;49(1):119-126. PMID:30814087.
  • Hanadi El Achi, MD; Tatiana Belousova, MD, Lei Chen, MD; Amer Wahed, MD; Iris Wang, MD; Zhihong Hu, MD; Zeyad Kanaan, MD, Adan Rios, MD, Andy N.D. Nguyen, MD. Automated Diagnosis of Lymphoma with Digital Pathology Images Using Deep Learning. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2019 Mar;49(2):153-160. PMID:31028058.
  • S. Samuel, M Escobar, M. McGuire, J. Cortes, P. Weeks, N. Nguyen. Comparison of Polyspecific vs IgG specific ELISA in Predominately Cardiac Patients with Suspected Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia. Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis. Jan 2020, Manuscript THRO-D-19-00260R2. PMID: 31552545.
  • Mei Lin, Brenda Mai, Hanadi El Achi, Nfn. Aakash, Iris Wang, Zhihong Hu, Lei Chen, Md. Amer Wahed, Adan Rios, and Andy N.D. Nguyen. Application of Deep Learning in Predicting the Prognosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia using Cytogenetics, Age, and Mutations. Clinical Oncology and Research. 2020, ISSN 2613-4942.
  • Andy N.D. Nguyen, Kareem Allam. Deep Learning for Digital Image Analysis with Whole slide Imaging for Lymphoma Diagnosis: Challenges and Promises. Journal of 21st Century Pathology. 2022, Volume 2 (2): 116.

Chapters:

  • Nguyen, A. and Henry, J.: Principles of Instrumentation. Chapter 3, In: Henry, J., ed. Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1996, 19th Edition, pp 53-73.
  • Nguyen, A. and Henry, J.: Principles of Instrumentation. Chapter 3, In: Henry, J., ed. Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 2001, 20th Edition, 2001, pp 60-78.
  • Nguyen, A.: The Application of Data Mining to Flow Cytometry. In: Current Protocols in Cytometry (Eds: Robinson, J.P., Darzynkiewicz, Z., Dean, P. et al). John Wiley & Sons, Inc, April 2002, 10.13.1-10.13.6.
  • Nguyen, A. Wahed. Chapter 20. Sources of errors in hematology and coagulation testing. In: Accurate Results in the Clinical Laboratory-A Guide to Error Detection and Correction, Editors: A. Dasgupta, J. Sepulveda. Elsevier, 2013.

Books:

  • Andy Nguyen, M.D, Amitava Dasgupta, Ph.D, Amer Wahed, M.D. Current Management of Hemostasis and Coagulopathies for Surgical and Critically Ill Patients: A Practical Approach. Elsevier. April 19, 2016, ISBN :9780128035313.
  • Ace My Path: Hematopathology Reporting Templates. A Gupta, S Chaudhary, A Nguyen, B Shah. First edition 2022.