The University of California (UC) was chartered in 1868. As a whole, it is one of the largest Universities in the world consisting of over 7,000 faculty members, 160,000 students and employs approximately 121,000 faculty, staff and academics statewide.

The UC system is currently comprised of 10 separate campuses: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. In 2014, there were over 183,000 student applications.

Affiliated with the Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and the Los Alamos Facility, each campus boasts a unique environment, and a variety of achievements, honors and academic disciplines.

There are currently 6 medical centers in the UC system: Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. A medical center in Riverside is the most recent addition in 2013. The UC Medical Centers support the clinical teaching programs of the medical and health sciences schools and receive more than 138,000 inpatient discharges, 261,000 emergency room visits and more than 3.6 million outpatient visits per year. Collectively, these centers comprise the largest health care system in California.

UC San Diego occupies 1200 acres along the Pacific coast in La Jolla, California. One of the premiere campuses of the UC system, UC San Diego is also one of the youngest (founded in 1960). The first graduate student was admitted in 1960 and the first undergraduate in 1964. UC San Diego is thus one of the youngest major Universities in the United States.

Since its beginnings, the focus of UC San Diego has been on science and engineering and over its short history 18 faculty members have awarded Nobel Prizes, including 3 in Medicine and Physiology: George Palade (1974), Renata Dulbecco (1975) and Sydney Brenner (2002). Roger Tsien PhD was the most recent Nobel Laureate receiving his Prize in Chemistry in 2009.

UC San Diego has been named one of the Top-Ranked "Happiest" colleges as well as a top-ranked college for nightlife, organizations, retention and sunny days. UC San Diego has also been named one of the Top Green Universities in the world due to its extensive initiatives in energy preservation and conservation.

UC San Diego is affiliated with several prestigious research neighbors, including the Salk Institute, the Burnham Institute and the Scripps Research Institute. The collective biomedical facilities are known in San Diego as "Bio Tech Beach". The Salk Institute is pictured at right.

In 2013, the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, the Salk Institute and the Burnham Institute formed the "San Diego National Cancer Institute Cancer Centers Council". This council brings together a leading NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center with two of the seven NCI-designated basic science cancer centers in the country. The UC San Diego annual research funding currently exceeds $1 billion, making UCSD one of the highest funded research universities in the country.

In recent years, UC San Diego has received multiple prestigious awards. In 2012, Department of Bioengineering Professor (and Cancer Center member) Shu Chien PhD was awarded the National Medal of Science from President Obama. His research has led to improved testing and treatment of atherosclerosis. The prior year, Chancellor Marye Ann Fox, also received a National Medal of Science award, making UC San Diego the first University ever to receive back-to-back National Medals of Science.

UC San Diego has been named one of the Top-Ranked "Happiest" colleges as well as a top-ranked college for nightlife, organizations, retention and sunny days. UC San Diego has also been named one of the Top Green Universities in the world due to its extensive initiatives in energy preservation and conservation.

Several years in a row, UC San Diego has even been named a Top-Ranked "Surf" University in the country. This recognition was based not only on its proximity to world-class beaches and surfing but also to its commitment to the "academics" of surfing. The Department of Physics offers a well-attended Physics of Surfing Class.

Under the leadership of Dean David Brenner (formerly Chair of Medicine at Columbia University), UC San Diego Health Sciences is an integral part of the University as a whole. Dr. Brenner oversees the Medical Center, the Clinical and Basic Science Departments, the UC San Diego Medical School and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy. The School of Medicine currently enrolls 120 students per year and is consistently ranked among the top American Medical Schools by the U.S. News World Report. Despite its short history, the UC San Diego School of Medicine is consistently ranked among the Top 15 Research Medical Schools and the Top 15 NIH funded Medical Schools in the country.

The UC San Diego Medical Center is currently a two hospital system. The 422-bed, 11-floor Hillcrest Medical Center is located in the Hillcrest neighborhood near downtown San Diego (photo right).

A 10 story Medical Center located in La Jolla recently opened. Named after the founder of Qualcomm, the 500,000 square foot Jacobs Medical Center (left) consists of 3 separate hospitals including a dedicated Cancer Hospital and a Center for Advanced Surgery.

Several hospitals are closely affiliated with the UC San Diego Medical Center including the VA San Diego Hospital and Rady Children's Hospital. In addition, UC San Diego has an exclusive radiation oncology contract with Kaiser Permanente San Diego.

Moores Cancer Center

The UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center was founded in 1978 and is one of only 42 NCI-Designated Comprehensive Centers in the United States. Recently, the Moores Cancer Center was invited to join the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), which develops guidelines used throughout the world for the care of oncology patients.

The current Moores Cancer Center facility opened in 2006 and is now home to a large number of cancer specialists, including medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists and radiation oncologists. Under the direction of Dr. Scott Lippman (right), formerly the Director of Head/Neck and Lung Cancers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Center is home to exceedingly strong clinical and basic science oncology programs. In fact, 14 Moores Cancer Center members are members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest number of NAS members of any University in the world.

Cancer Center Leadership is divided into Oncology Research Leadership and Oncology Service Line (Clinical) Leadership. Under Research Leadership are Directors of Clinical Science, Basic Science, Translational Science, Population Science and Research Administration. Under Service Line Leadership are the Physician-in-Chief, Directors of Cancer Surgery, Cancer Medicine, Radiation Medicine and the Chief Administrative Officer of Oncology and Radiation Therapy. In 2017, Dr. Arno Mundt was named Senior Deputy Director with a focus on Oncology Business Development.

The Moores Cancer Center Leadership Organization Chart is shown below:

The roles of each senior leader is summarized below: