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The UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego employs a multi-disciplinary team approach to patient care. We have 10 disease teams, all of which are highly interactive and collaborative in delivering care. Subspecialty cancer care includes surgical oncology, medical oncology, gynecologic oncology, radiation oncology, world-renowned minimally invasive surgery, interventional radiology, molecular cancer imaging, palliative care, integrative medicine, psychology and nutrition. A major new care initiative is genomics/personalized medicine, including a new Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy. Ancillary services include a robust patient and family support program. We have more than 200 clinical trials to treat cancer and many other studies to prevent cancer and improve cancer survivorship.
Moores Cancer Center and the UC San Diego Health System have won many quality awards, and our commitment to quality cancer care is further reflected by our participation in the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) for the past four years and QOPI certification in 2012. The Moores Cancer Center Quality Program oversees quality audits of the Infusion Center and quality improvement projects.
Your multidisciplinary team at Moores Cancer Center works together to decide your best course of treatment. Team members are in the same building, making it easier and faster to compare notes, confer regularly, and review your progress. We encourage you and your loved ones to take an active role in your care and to communicate freely with your health care team. Using the advice from this group of experts, you and your primary physician can then decide on your best course of treatment.
At the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, we understand the day-to-day physical and emotional challenges you face when dealing with cancer. Our goal is to walk with you through this journey – to provide the highest quality of care and to support you and your family compassionately. We ensure that, from your very first visit to the Cancer Center, you will never feel alone.
Who we are
Established in 1978, the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) – designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the San Diego region. Moores Cancer Center's mission is to save lives by transforming cancer care.
Multidisciplinary by definition, we are home to 413 scientists and physicians from 17 university departments. UC San Diego School of Medicine is eighth in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding. Our faculty includes a Nobel laureate and 14 members of the National Academy of Sciences. Moores Cancer Center is the clinical hub for cancer in the rich research environment of San Diego, leveraging this environment to benefit patients. We recently joined two NCI-designated basic-science cancer centers the Salk Institute Cancer Center and the Cancer Center at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, in forming the San Diego National Cancer Institute Cancer Centers Council. This council facilitates multicenter scientific and academic interactions and leverages each center’s distinct strengths, resources and talents. Moores Cancer Center also recently joined the Worldwide Innovative Network (WIN) Consortium, a global network of 29 leading organizations from the academic, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare IT, and patient advocacy sectors. Both WIN and the San Diego National Cancer Institute Centers Council aim to speed scientific discovery and translation of innovative treatments for cancer patients in San Diego and beyond. We also leverage the combined power of the five University of California NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in advancing clinical research and improving the quality of patient care.
The hallmark of Moores Cancer Center research has been taking discoveries to the clinic. For example, [99mTc]Tilmanocept was fully developed at Moores Cancer Center from the lab discovery through registration clinical testing. In March 2013, the drug received US Food and Drug Administration approval for sentinel node detection to ensure optimal therapy for patients with melanoma and breast cancer. Because of our strong emphasis on translational oncology and drug development, Moores Cancer Center researchers and physicians have fostered relationships and partnerships with life-sciences companies in San Diego, which is ranked as the 2nd largest biotech cluster in the nation by Jones Lang LaSalle. We have outstanding population-science and prevention programs, including implementing California tobacco policy initiatives that led to changes in national and international policy legislation. Moores Cancer Center also has community outreach programs to reduce cancer disparities, collaborating with San Diego State University to implement behavioral interventions, e.g., for obesity control in underserved populations. We offer education and training for scholars ranging from high school students to practicing physicians and clinical and research scientists. These programs include the unique NCI T32 Cancer Therapeutics Program that we created to train scientists and physicians on how to execute successful drug development as well as four NCI-funded programs that recruit and train under-represented minority undergraduates.
Moores Cancer Center faculty have major leadership roles in NCI clinical trials initiatives, including the Southwest Oncology Group, AIDS Malignancy Clinical Trials Consortium, and Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee. We have collaborative ties to other strong local institutes both inside of UC San Diego (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the Clinical and Translational Research Institute) and outside (J Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, and Scripps Research Institute). Moores Cancer Center collaborates clinically with Rady Children’s Hospital (pediatric radiation oncology), Sharp Memorial Hospital (Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program), and Kaiser Permanente San Diego (radiation oncology services for Kaiser patients).