In Memoriam: Phuong Linh Doan, 1977-2023

Phuong Linh Doan, an associate professor at the Duke University School of Medicine died in late November. She was 46 years old.

Dr. Doan came to the United States from Vietnam at the age of 4. She earned her medical degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Doan joined the Duke family in 2007 as a fellow in hematology-oncology. She continued her trajectory, joining the Duke department of medicine team as a medical instructor in 2010 after completing her fellowship. Dr. Doan was appointed to assistant professor of medicine in 2013 and then promoted to associate professor in 2020. She also served as a member of the Duke Cancer Institute and an affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center.

An impactful physician-scientist, Dr. Doan was an expert in hematopoietic regeneration and endothelial cells. As the principal investigator on an NIH grant, Dr. Doan and her team focused on the identification of novel hematopoietic growth factors; endothelial microvesicles; EGFR and EGFR-2 signaling in hematologic malignancies; hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome; and transgenic and mutant murine models in cancer and myelosuppression.

Dr. Doan received both the Duke School of Medicine Duke Physician-Scientist Strong Start Award and the Duke School of Medicine and School of Engineering MEDx Biomedical Research Award, which is given to researchers with novel pilot projects that investigate a basic biomedical discovery.