Chi T. Viet DDS, MD, PhD, FACS

Dr. Chi T. Viet is a surgeon scientist focused on head and neck cancer management. She is an Associate Professor at Loma Linda University. She earned her DDS and PhD from University of California, San Francisco, and her MD from New York University, where she completed her Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residency. She then went on to complete fellowship training in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology and Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery in Portland, Oregon. Her clinical practice is devoted to the comprehensive surgical management of patients with head and neck benign and malignant pathology and microvascular reconstruction.

Dr. Viet is a principal investigator of a translational research lab focused on head and neck carcinogenesis and the neurobiological basis of symptoms faced by head and neck cancer patients. Her goal is to develop biomarkers for early head and neck cancer detection, and to use patient-specific biomarkers to design effective treatments for head and neck cancer. By using clinical samples, in vitro and in vivo models, she has demonstrated that epigenetic alterations play a causal role in head and neck cancer pain and carcinogenesis. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) – Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCR), and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation (OMSF). Her work has resulted in publications in American Association of Cancer Research journals (Clinical Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention), Nature Portfolio (Scientific Reports), Springer Nature (Biomarker Research), and PAIN.