) The overall objective of the Oral/Head and Neck Oncology Program is to promote interdisciplinary scientific research aimed at reducing the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of oral, head, and neck cancer. The Program brings together a highly interactive group of faculty with common interests from the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry as well as associated faculty at the Veterans Administration Hospital and a network of participating Bay Area dentists. In addition, the Program also promotes collaboration with members of other Cancer Center programs on research including environmental tobacco use and epidemiological studies, molecular carcinogenesis, and developmental strategies for prevention and treatment of oral, head, and neck cancer. The major Program focus is to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in mucosal squamous cell carcinoma progression and invasion/metastasis in order to translate knowledge of basic biology into appropriate treatment modalities. Expertise in tumor marker analysis, growth factor and adhesion receptor function, signal transduction, and molecular genetics is being applied toward research into genetic abnormalities of oral, head, and neck cancer patients and predictive assays of treatment outcomes. Many of the research laboratories in the Program are associated with the NCI/NIDR-funded Oral Cancer Research Center. University of California San Francisco clinical resources in oral, head, and neck cancer include expertise in magnetic resonance spectroscopy, positron emission tomography, skull base surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, maxillofacial prosthodontics, intraoperative radiotherapy, three-dimensional conformal intensity modulated radiotherapy, brachytherapy, radiosurgery, and hyperthermia. Clinicians in the Departments of Otolaryngology, Radiation Oncology, Radiology, and Pathology, as well as the Divisions of Medical Oncology and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the School of Medicine, the Departments of Stomatology and Restorative Dentistry in the School of Dentistry, and the Department of Physiological Nursing in the School of Nursing, are collaborating in clinical research on the treatment and prevention of malignancies arising in the head and neck. Members of the Program also are participating in retinoid chemoprevention of second malignancies based on models derived from Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) studies of oral, head, and neck cancer.
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