The University of California, Irvine Cancer Center is a matrix-type organization administratively housed in the College of Medicine. The research goals of the Cancer Center are: 1) To contribute to understanding of the basic mechanisms that underlie the phenotype and genotype of cancer; 2) To facilitate the translation of laboratory and epidemiologic research into hypothesis-driven clinical prevention and treatment studies; 3) To conduct clinical prevention and treatment trials, whenever possible emanating from research generated in the Center; 4) To accrue patients to cooperative group and high priority trials; 5) To define cancer risk in the diverse socioeconomic and multicultural society served by the Center and to develop research strategies to facilitate the prevention and early detection of cancer in these populations; and 6) To utilize the extensive education and training opportunities available at all levels as a major translational vehicle and to encourage activities that promote interdisciplinary research. The Cancer Center serves over 5 million people in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties in California. The 105 full members of the Center are supported by over $14 million (annual direct costs) including over $11 million in peer-reviewed grants and contracts directly related to the cancer problem. Cancer Center members enter over 150 patients on cancer clinical trials annually. An extensive community research network has been established in the Southern California region and beyond, which involves over 20 separate sites. A Clinical Trials Protocol Review and Monitoring System has been instituted as well. The Center is organized into four major divisions: Basic Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Cancer Control Research, and Education and Training. The divisions interact through seven research programs: Carcinogenesis, Growth Factors and Signaling, Structural Molecular Biology, Virology, Clinical Oncology, Photomedicine, and Prevention and Epidemiology. The Center will provide centralized support for these program functions through six shared resource facilities: Biostatistics, Clinical Investigations, Human Tumor Tissue, Immunology, Molecular Biology, and Optical Biology. The Education and Training Division facilitates integration of students into basic, clinical, and control research activities in the various programs and accordingly enhances the translational capabilities of the Center. Development funds will be used to recruit faculty in areas of research the Center has identified as high priority and to provide seed grants that will support collaborative translational cancer research of Center members. The primary planning and operational research decisions of the Center will be made by the Management Committee, which consists of the Director, Associate Directors, Program Leaders, Shared Resource Directors, Standing Committee Chairs, and Clinical Division Chiefs.
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