Richard A. Nash, MD

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Dr. Richard A. Nash: It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you do it well

“Challenges have always driven me to do something different,” says Dr. Richard Nash, associate professor at the University of Washington, who provides patient care at SCCA for patients who need stem cell transplants. “That’s why I came to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the top centers for hematopoietic cell transplantation.”

A child of Irish immigrants, Dr. Nash grew up in Canada. His father was a surgeon and his mother a dentist. “It wasn’t assumed I’d go into medicine,” Nash says. “But it was expected that whatever I did, I would do it well.”

Nash spends about 70 percent of his time involved in preclinical and clinical research  and 30 percent in clinical care. His research has focused on improving outcomes of hematopoietic cell transplantation for cancer patients. Based on the biologic effects of hematopoietic cell transplantation, studies were then started for autoimmune diseases.

“It’s always hard to know if patients really like you… hopefully they do. We approach patients as individuals and work closely with them during their medical treatment,” he says. “Many of the doctors don’t wear white coats to try and make the clinic more informal and comfortable for patients.”

Nash has been with the Hutchinson Center for 20 years. “Things here are changing all the time,” he says. “In more recent years, we’re seeing sicker, older patients for hematopoietic cell transplantation, and that’s because the nonmyleoablative transplants are better tolerated. The field of medicine is exciting. There has been tremendous growth because of scientific and technological advances.”

When he isn’t working, Nash would prefer to be bicycling. One of his greatest adventures was riding his bike from northern Canada to Patagonia in South America, which he did for more than a year between graduating from medical school and picking his specialty, literally making his decisions while cycling across the desert in Peru. Nash hopes to return to his bicycle in the not-so-distant future for another great adventure – possibly a cycling sabbatical.

“There’s so much global misunderstanding these days. Everybody should take time to travel outside their borders,” he says. “To see that people in other countries at their core are really no different than who we are here.”