Doan Y. Dao, M.D.
Doan Y Dao, M.D., is a Founder and Member, Board of Directors of V-VHA. He is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Fluent in English and Vietnamese, Dr. Dao’s personal passion and professional commitment is the study of and care for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV). He has worked in the HBV field including clinical research, basic science training, patient care, and outreach and advocacy programs for more than 12 years, beginning early in medical school when he took two years off to do HBV translational research. His devotion to HBV in partly stemmed from the large unmet needs in HBV endemic underserved areas of Africa and Asia. He was born and grew up in Vietnam.
Dr. Dao obtained his post-graduate clinical training in Internal Medicine/ Gastroenterology & Hepatology (2012-2019), as part of the Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP), at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. PSTP is a formal mechanism to facilitate and support the development of physician-scientists in academic medicine.
Dr. Dao manages patients with general gastrointestinal diseases or chronic liver diseases. His research focuses on HBV cure. He also dedicates a large portion of his time and efforts to live and work in his native Vietnam towards viral hepatitis elimination.
In addition, Dr. Dao was a past co-Chair of the National Task Force on Hepatitis B: Focus on Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, USA from 2014 – 2018.
In 2010, as a medical student, he established and served as Director (2010-2012) and Advisor (2012-present) of the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Hepatitis B Free. Under Dr. Dao’s leadership and support, the DFW Hep B Free has been serving thousands of individuals in the metropolis area and is recognized statewide by Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the Texas State Department of Health in 2011 and nationally as a Hep B United Champion in 2015 by Hep B United, a national coalition to address the public health challenge of HBV. In 2016, the Hep B Free was honored by White House for hepatitis awareness efforts.
Supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored T-32 training grant for his basic research in HBV immunobiology, Dr. Dao was also awarded the 2014 Hepatitis Fund for the Cure Postdoctoral Research Fellowship by the American Liver Foundation. In 2016, Dr. Dao was awarded the Asian Heritage Award in Public Health by the Asian Heritage Society, CA, USA. Also in 2016, Dr. Dao was named Everyday Hero by the American Liver Foundation, USA for his effort “tackling hepatitis B from all directions, both in the U.S. and his home country of Vietnam”.