·        The Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center is located at the University of California, San Diego. The campus is situated on 1,200 acres of coastal woodland adjacent to over 200 biomedical and biopharmaceutical companies and other research facilities comprising the research-rich “Golden Triangle” in La Jolla.  Interactions occur between the Center and adjacent institutions:  The Salk Institute, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Scripps Research Institute and its related clinics and hospitals, and The Burnham Institute for Cancer Research.

·        Founded in 1978, the Moores UCSD Cancer Center is one of just 41 centers in the United States to hold a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center.  As such, it ranks among the top centers in the nation conducting basic and clinical cancer research, providing advanced patient care and serving the community through outreach and education programs. 

·        In 1998, an endowment of $1 million established the Chugai Chair for Cancer Research for the Center Director.

·        The Cancer Center is one of five Organized Research Units (ORU) of the UCSD School of Medicine.  As an ORU, we stimulate cancer research on the La Jolla campus, stimulate scientific collaboration, and nurture junior cancer investigators. 

·        One of two USA branches of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research is located on the UCSD campus, which enables powerful scientific synergies with members of the Cancer Center.

·        The Cancer Center is working in close collaboration with UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, seeking to develop new chemotherapeutic agents from algae and other natural living organisms from the sea.

·        Center researchers have established an active research program with the San Diego Supercomputer Center, one of two such centers in the nation, which is housed on the UCSD campus. 

·        There are over 330 faculty members of the Center, who are drawn from 19 departments and divisions across the campus and other local institutions such as Rady Children’s Hospital, The Salk Institute, and San Diego State University.

·        Cancer Center membership includes one Nobel Laureate, 14 members of the National Academy of Sciences (UCSD is ranked 7^th in the total number of NAS members [67]), one member of the Advisory Council of the NCI, and a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research.

·        UCSD is the only institution in the San Diego region to be approved by the federally funded National Marrow Donor Program to perform bone marrow and stem cell transplants from unrelated donors.  Such transplants are the only curative treatments for certain leukemias, non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, severe aplastic anemia, and other blood disorders.

·        There are approximately 40,000 outpatient visits per year, which include the Oncology Clinics, Chemotherapy and Radiation Oncology.

·        At any given time, the Cancer Center offers over 150 clinical trials.

·        The California Smokers Helpline – a free, telephone-based smoking cessation service – was developed by the Cancer Center in 1990 and has since grown to become a statewide service that has assisted more than 240,000 callers to quit.  Based upon this success, other states have established similar programs. 

The California Smokers’ Helpline also created a service just for teens.  Designed for 14- to 17-year-old tobacco users, the Helpline teen service offers several options to help with quitting.  Teen smoking is on the rise, and few cessation programs are designed to meet this age group’s needs. 

·        The UCSD Cancer Center Foundation, founded in 1981 by community supporters, directs fund-raising efforts in support of our research and clinical programs. 

·        The Center carries out research through seven programs: Cancer Biology, Cancer Genetics, Cancer Prevention & Control, Cancer Symptom Control, Hematologic Malignancies, Reducing Cancer Disparities, and Tumor Growth, Invasion and Metastasis.

·        Cancer research is supported by the Center’s shared resource facilities:  Biostatistics, Cancer and Minorities Research (at San Diego State University), Clinical Trials Office, Data Compilation & Bioinformatics, Digital Imaging, DNA Sequencing, Flow Cytometry, Histology & Immunohistochemistry, In Vivo Imaging, Medicinal Chemistry, Microarray, Molecular Pathology, Nutrition, Radiation Medicine, and Transgenic Core.

·        Construction of a 270,000 square foot building was completed in 2005. The building unites the Cancer Center’s clinical enterprise (including magnetic resonance imaging, digital imaging, and radiation oncology) with basic, clinical, translational, and cancer prevention research.   

Note:  Pictures featured on this page are views of the new Moores UCSD Cancer Center building, taken by Adrian Velicescu, Standard Photography.