Khai Nguyen 
Associate Clinical Professor, Medicine | UC San Diego
San Diego, CA, UNITED STATES
His expertise includes providing therapeutic and rehabilitative care for conditions or health concerns that are common among the elderly
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Biography
Khai Nguyen, MD, is a board-certified internal medicine doctor and geriatrician who specializes in caring for older adults. He provides primary care to patients, with an emphasis on health maintenance, disease prevention, treatment of acute and chronic illnesses and preservation of function. As a geriatrician, Dr. Nguyen aims to keep seniors healthy and high functioning as they transition through the stages of aging. His expertise includes providing therapeutic and rehabilitative care for conditions or health concerns that are common among the elderly such as frailty, falls, incontinence, memory and cognitive problems, and medication-related side effects. He also has expertise in end of life care and advance care planning.
Dr. Nguyen is clinical services chief of Senior Medicine at UC San Diego Health, where he oversees efforts to help ensure quality patient care and provides leadership management of clinical functions and staff.
As an instructor in the Division of Geriatrics, Dr. Nguyen teaches internal medicine residents and geriatric medicine fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine. He has coauthored numerous abstracts and was a speaker at the 2015 annual meeting of the National Association of Managed Care Physicians.
Prior to joining UC San Diego Health, Dr. Nguyen was the medical director of VITAS Healthcare and Hospice. He was also a geriatric home-based primary care physician at VA Healthcare System San Diego, and a physician in the Department of Continuing Care Services at Kaiser Permanente San Diego.
Dr. Nguyen completed a fellowship in geriatric medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and a residency in internal medicine at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla. He earned his medical degree from University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, Vermont. Dr. Nguyen also holds a master’s degree in health policy and certification in health finance and management from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is board certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine, and holds the hospice medical director certification (HMDC) credential.
Dr. Nguyen is a member of the American Geriatrics Society and American College of Physicians.
Areas of Expertise (7)
Gerontology
COVID-19 Effects on Seniors
COVID-19
Primary Care
Senior Medicine
Coronavirus
Geriatrics
Education (5)
University of California, San Diego: Fellowship Program, Geriatrics 2010
Scripps Green Hospital: Residency Program, Internal Medicine 2009
University of Vermont, College of Medicine: M.D., Medicine 2006
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: M.Sc., Health Sciences, Health Policy 2001
University of California, Los Angeles: B.S., Biology, General, Minor, Gerontology 1999
Links (2)
Media Appearances (7)
Senior living facilities restrict readmission to prevent coronavirus
The San Diego Union-Tribune online
2020-04-09
“I think a conservative and safe inter-facility transfer policy is in order because we’ve seen what has happened to other facilities and dwellings that have group living for seniors, and how it could turn very bad, very fast,” Nguyen said.
UCSD Health part of national initiative to improve senior patient care
KUSI News online
2019-12-05
Dr. Alison Moore, MPH, chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at UCSD Health, and Dr. Khai Nguyen, clinical services chief of senior medicine at UCSD Health, were in studio to tell us about it.
UC San Diego Health Part of National Initiative to Improve Senior Patient Care
UC San Diego Health Newsroom online
2019-12-02
“The initiative provides health care systems with the tools needed and creates new standards of care to ensure conditions, such as delirium and depression, are identified while falls and adverse effects of medications are prevented in older patients,” said Khai Nguyen, MD, clinical services chief of senior medicine at UC San Diego Health.
Class action lawsuit filed against the makers of Prevagen
KUSI tv
2019-07-24
Dr. Khai Nguyen is clinical services chief of Senior Medicine at UC San Diego Health joined Good Morning San Diego to discuss a class-action lawsuit filed against Quincy Bioscience for allegedly falsely marketing the supplement Prevagen.
Newly approved drug Xofluza adds to flu-fighting arsenal
San Diego Tribune online
2018-11-12
Dr. Khai Nguyen, a geriatrician and clinical services chief at UC San Diego Health, emphasized that no one should think that these anti-viral flu medications are a replacement for getting a flu shot. And, for those on the older end of the spectrum, a high-dose version of the annual vaccine is recommended. A recent study from the Oregon Public Health Division found that high-dose vaccines were 30 percent more effective at preventing flu-related hospitalization.
Is it possible to find any joy on Alzheimer’s journey? Panel offers insights on coping, caring at La Jolla event (Part 2)
La Jolla Light online
2018-05-17
The five-person panel consisted of Dr. Khai Nguyen, clinical services chief at UCSD, Department of Senior Medicine; Dan Sewell, director of UCSD’s Senior Behavioral Health program and co-director of its Memory, Aging and Resilience Clinic; Isabel Lozano, founder of “A Heart for Seniors” and a two-time caregiver; Cordula Dick-Muehlke, author and expert in aging and dementia; and Kimberly King, journalist and CEO of Kimberly King Media, who’s presently taking care of her mother with Alzheimer’s.
What’s Age Got to Do With it?
UC San Diego Health Newsroom online
2017-12-19
“Now more than ever, we need our aging community to understand the specialized care available to them,” said Khai Nguyen, MD, primary care/geriatrics physician at UC San Diego Health.
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