Nicolaj Andersen, MD

Bio

I grew up in Hundested, Denmark, a small town on the northwest coast of Sjaelland, Denmark's largest island. My father was a family physician in town and my mother a dentist. This exposure to medicine while I was growing up sparked my first interest in becoming a doctor. I moved to Copenhagen (Denmark's largest city) in 1990 to attend university and pursue becoming a medical doctor. After finishing my training at the University of Copenhagen's School of Medicine in 1997, I traveled to Indonesia for a vacation and met my wife, who is American and was living in San Francisco at the time. This was what first brought me to spend time in California.

After a couple of years living in Copenhagen, we decided to move back to the U.S. I completed a three year residency in Internal Medicine at Westchester Medical Center in New York and became increasingly interested in working with cancer patients. I thus decided to subspecialize in Hematology and Oncology and took a position as a fellow at Yale University for an additional three years. Our decision to move to California after this, in July of 2005, was an easy one to make. I am impressed with Kaiser Permanente's model of providing health care and believe I can best immerse myself in helping cancer patients in this environment. Sue and I both enjoy the outdoors and have found good friends here. We have three children - a son, who is 8, and identical twin girls, who are 7.

I began to work with Kaiser Permanente in August, 2005, and have gained valuable experience in clinical oncology since I joined. However, I've been practicing oncology for over five years. I enjoy reading about the latest news and developments in the field and I still have strong ties to the hematology / oncology faculty members at Yale. I endeavor to be on the front edge of developments in my field.

I chose to work at Kaiser Permanente because they have achieved an environment where both patients and doctors can more easily focus on patient care. Kaiser Permanente is a tightly-knit community of doctors in a multi-specialty practice, so there is excellent communication across specialties. This enables the patient to enjoy a continuity of care. Kaiser Permanente is also structured so that the patient comes first. For instance, there are no financial incentives that favor specific treatments at Kaiser Permanente. Therefore, the physician has the freedom to choose the treatment that is best for the patient. Furthermore, I do not find my energies diverted into other things at Kaiser Permanente, such as administrative work. When I go to work, I know I can focus on what I love to do: help patients.

My practice philosophy is to be personal, informal, honest and compassionate. I try to be reassuring and consider the whole person's well-being. I believe it is extremely important to be responsive, so I am disciplined about following up with patients. I strive to provide excellent care, a listening ear, and an emotionally stable source of support and advice in what might prove to be difficult times for patients.

My Medical Specialty

More details about my specialty:

I chose oncology as a subspecialty because I find working with cancer patients very interesting. The work requires building relationships with patients, which I enjoy. I strive to give cancer patients the reassurance and support they need in their situation. Significant breakthroughs have been made in both hematology and oncology over time, and this progress will no doubt continue. These breakthroughs have offered some cures, some better quality of life, increased survival, and not least of all, hope. But much work remains to be done.

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

While my research efforts to date have been focused primarily on lung cancer, I see myself as a general oncologist and hematologist.

Interests

Currently reading:
John Irving's The Fourth Hand

My favorite book or author:
David McCullough, author of 1776, John Adams, and Truman

Hobby Photos & Links:

Family Fun

Family & Friends

People in my life:

My wife, Sue, is my soul mate and my greatest support. Sue is of German descent, but was born and raised in North Salem, NY. She attended Middlebury College in Vermont for undergraduate work and later took her MBA at Harvard Business School. When our son was born, Sue chose to stop working and be the anchor in our home while I did my residency and fellowship. She has found tremendous joy in this role. Sue shares my love for outdoor adventure and exercise, which are our favorite things to do when we have time together

My children and people I care about:

We have three children -- our son, who is 8, and, identical twin girls who are 7. Our son is inquisitive and loves science, math, and history. He is very excited about soccer, skiing, tennis, mountain biking, and sailing. He also enjoys skateboarding and baseball. Our twin daughters love arts and crafts and imagination games, but also enjoy all of the outdoor sports with their brother. They are always up for fun and adventure. We feel very blessed with three happy, healthy children.

Photos of my Family & Friends:

Our family

Travel

An adventure I've had:

Certainly the most exciting adventure I've had was my trip to Bali, when I met my wife. We actually bumped into one another while we were snorkeling. I generously offered my wife-to-be my snorkel gear, which she politely declined. We can only both agree that it must have been fate for us to be together, because though we went our separate ways after our first meeting, we managed to meet again on the neighboring island while hiking the volcano Rinjani.

Favorite place in the world:

Denmark is still one of my favorite places in the world. I grew up on the Kattegat Sea, and my family spent many summers sailing. One of the places that we kept returning to is Hesselø, a tiny island in the Kattegat. It's a treasure of peace and solitude.

One of my recent trips:

Recently we took the children to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The children spent some time with their grandparents and cousins. We abandoned our car and went everywhere by bike - to the big surf on the ocean side of the Cape, to the bay, where we collected all sorts of crabs and could walk far out at low tide, and to Flax Pond, our favorite freshwater pond in Nickerson State Park.

A Photo of One of My Favorite Places:

Playing on the beach