Facts about the University of California Davis Cancer Center

Clinical:

  • Cares for more than 9,000 adults and children with cancer from throughout central and northern California, eastern Nevada and southern Oregon each year
  • The only National Cancer Institute center serving California’s Central Valley and inland Northern California, a region of 6 million people
  • Among the nation’s leading cancer clinical trials programs, with 150 adult clinical trials and 50 pediatric clinical trials under way at any given time
  • Home to the largest and most experienced pediatric cancer treatment program in inland California, and the region’s only pediatric bone marrow transplant program
  • The only facility in the Sacramento region honored by the Oncology Certification Corporation for its use of highly trained oncology-certified nurses
  • Affiliate cancer centers in Marysville and Merced and an infusion center in Roseville, offering patients in these communities state-of-the-art cancer treatment and access to clinical trials closer to home
  • Provides millions in uncompensated care each year for patients with limited or no health insurance
  • A 30-year history of providing a full range of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and hospice/palliative care programs for children and adults

Research:

  • $74 million cancer research program with 180 scientists at work on more than 300 research projects on three campuses
  • The first major cancer center to forge a formal research partnership with a national laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to harness defense technologies in the fight against cancer
  • Headquarters for a $5.5 million National Cancer Institute-funded project to eliminate cancer disparities in Asian Americans nationwide
  • Recent research highlights: development of a breast CT that promises to detect breast cancer earlier than mammography; development of investigational new agents for leukemia, prostate and neurologic cancers; development of a potential test for early detection of ovarian cancer; development of prototype biophotonics technologies for rapid cancer diagnosis

What does National Cancer Institute-Designation Mean?

The National Cancer Act of 1971, enacted as part of the nation’s war on cancer, established the Cancer Centers Program of the National Cancer Institute. This branch was charged with developing a network of distinguished cancer-research organizations characterized by scientific excellence and the ability to bring a diversity of research approaches to bear on the problem of cancer.

In 2002 UC Davis Cancer Center became the nation's 61st National Cancer Institute center.

According to the NCI, its designated centers "are the major sources of new knowledge relating to the nature of cancer and of new and more effective approaches to prevention, diagnosis and therapy."

To win NCI designation, a cancer center must prove itself capable of making a major contribution to the nation's war on cancer. The designation process typically takes years.

UC Davis Cancer Center began aiming for NCI designation in 1990, building a competitive research program while sustaining and improving its comprehensive patient-care programs. The Cancer Center first received designation in July 2002. In August 2005, the UC Davis Cancer Center's designation was renewed for five years, the longest term possible.

What does NCI-designation mean to patients?

Here is what the NCI has to say:

  • "Research in cancer centers... offers patients options for prevention, diagnosis and treatment that may not be available elsewhere."
  • "Patients benefit in better access to the latest therapies and better opportunities to take part in early trials of promising treatments."

"(NCI-designated) centers play an important role in their communities and regions and serve to influence standards of cancer prevention and treatment."

Does NCI-designation mean more research dollars?

Besides prestige, NCI designation carries with it a renewable Cancer Center Support Grant. UC Davis Cancer Center received $1.2 million a year for the first three years of designation and will receive $2.8 million annually from 2005 through 2010.

Unlike typical NCI grants, support grants do not support one researcher or any single research project. Instead, the grants are intended to strengthen a cancer center's research infrastructure, and provide the financial flexibility necessary for investigators to pursue new scientific opportunities as they arise. In addition, NCI designation makes it easier for an institution to compete for other federal, state and private research grants.