Nico Buan-Lagazo, DNP, RN, AGCNS-BC, NEA-BC, has served as a Transplant Nurse Manager at the UC Davis Health Transplant Center since 2022. A nurse since 2014, he began his career specializing in bone marrow transplant before transitioning to solid organ transplantation, where he has quickly distinguished himself as a leader in access, growth, and program development.
Within his first six months as nurse manager, Nico assumed leadership of the Transplant Clinic and restructured operations to eliminate a backlog of more than 1,000 kidney transplant referrals, significantly improving access to kidney transplantation. He contributed to the launch of UC Davis’s liver transplant program and helped the living donor kidney program reach its highest transplant volume in its history. He earned his BSN from Sacramento State University, his MSN in Nursing Leadership from the University of Phoenix, and his DNP as a Clinical Nurse Specialist from Johns Hopkins University, where he is currently pursuing an MBA. Beyond his operational achievements, Nico chairs his organization’s Asian American Pacific Systemwide Alliance employee resource group and serves as President of the Philippine Nurses Association of America, California Capital City Chapter.
He was nominated for The Alliance 40 Under 40 by Annette Needham, Transplant Quality Manager at UC Davis Transplant Center, who highlighted his exceptional leadership in eliminating the kidney referral backlog, his role in launching the liver and living donor liver programs, and his advocacy for living kidney donation.