pediatric oncology specialty at UC Davis

Our pediatric oncology team provides comprehensive care for patients with a wide range of childhood cancers.

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center's pediatric oncology program provides diagnosis and management of all forms of pediatric cancer and pediatric blood disorders. Patients have access to an extensive range of clinical trials of new therapies and management of long-term treatment effects.

Also available are a collaborative network of UC Davis specialists in neuro-oncology, radiation oncology, urology, ophthalmology and otolaryngology. Additional resources for patients and their families include case management, social support services and temporary housing during extended hospital stays.

The pediatric oncology clinic is conveniently located on the ground floor of the main Cancer Center’s North Building. Co-location of outpatient pediatric services with the adult clinics allows for better coordination of pediatric cancer care and research. Multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses and other providers ensure more seamless coordination of care through a patient’s diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.

Children needing hospitalization will continue to receive care at the UC Davis Children’s Hospital, a world-class pediatric hospital. Physicians within the Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology diagnose and treat children with blood disorders and all types of malignancies, including leukemia, lymphoma, brain and other solid tumors.

The program is a member of the Children's Oncology Group (COG), a federally funded cooperative dedicated to the treatment of childhood cancers. UC Davis Health System also is a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s federally funded National Hemophilia Treatment Centers.

Pediatric cancer types we treat

At UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, we provide cancer care for children, adolescents, and young adults with all types of cancers. Explore our cancer types to find information about treatment options, our collaborative team approach and the support services that are available to our cancer patients.


Our pediatric cancer team

Marcio Malogolowkin

Marcio H. Malogolowkin, M.D.
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Chief, Division of Hematology Oncology

Treating children with cancer for more than 29 years, Malogolowkin is passionate about developing new therapeutic approaches to improving outcomes and quality of life for his patients. An international leader in the treatment of pediatric liver tumors, Malogolowkin leads the pediatric hematology-oncology program to enhance the care of pediatric and young adult patients with cancer and blood disorders, to advance education of these diseases and to develop the next generation of health providers and researchers. Malogolowkin served as division head for clinical affairs and clinical research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and led the hematology, oncology and bone marrow transplant program at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin before coming to UC Davis. He believes all children should be cared for as family and have local access to top cancer experts and leading- edge treatments.

Anjali Pawar

Anjali Pawar, M.D.
Medical Director of the Pediatric Infusion Center
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Prior to joining UC Davis in March 2012, Pawar trained at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mi and held faculty position at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. She specializes in treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, anemias, platelet disorders, bleeding and clotting diseases. Her research is in bleeding and clotting disorders. She has special interest in adolescents and young adult females with blood disorders and runs a multispecialty clinic for this patient group. Pawar believes in family centered care of her patients. Her patient receives comprehensive medical care that includes complimentary medicine in addition to the pharmacological medicine. She also has keen interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence as it pertains to improvement in medical care for her patients. Pawar is Board Certified in Pediatric Hematology Oncology and is a member of several professional pediatric hematology and oncology organizations.

Elysia Alvarez

Elysia Alvarez, M.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Elysia Alvarez a pediatric oncologist who researches Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) oncology patient outcomes and specializes in pediatric and AYA solid tumors. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from UC Irvine School of Medicine, her Master of Public Health from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Clark University. She completed her residency and fellowship at Stanford University. Dr Alvarez believes that all children, adolescents, and young adults have the right to the best care and treatment possible. Through her clinical practice and research, she is passionate about increasing access to the best care and improving outcomes in this patient population.

Reuben Antony, M.D.

Reuben Antony, M.D.
Associate Professor

Dr. Antony received his Doctor of Medicine degree from St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore, India, and earned his Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in the United Kingdom. He completed two international fellowships, one in pediatric oncology at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and one in bone marrow transplantation at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He completed residency at New York Medical College, and a fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Antony’s clinical interests are in pediatric neuro- oncology. His philosophy of care is to provide compassionate and leading-edge care to the children and families who place their trust in us.

Jonathan Ducore

Jonathan M. Ducore, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Clinical Pediatrics
Co-Director of the Hemophilia Treatment Center

Jonathan Ducore, professor of clinical pediatrics, has been with the UC Davis Health System for nearly 25 years. He is co-director of the Hemophilia Treatment Center and has expertise in pediatric malignancies, bleeding disorders, cancer epidemiology and clinical trials. Dr. Ducore is looking forward to the integration of the pediatric with the adult cancer programs and the potential for cooperation and collaboration among clinicians and researchers.

Shinjiro Hirose

Shinjiro Hirose, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Chief, Division of Pediatric General, Thoracic and Fetal Surgery

A nationally recognized fetal and children's cancer surgeon and an expert in the development and use of surgical robotics in children, Hirose leads the pediatric surgery division to provide general and thoracic surgical care for infants, children and adolescents, and is working with colleagues to create  the first comprehensive fetal diagnosis and therapy center in the Sacramento region. Before joining UC Davis, Hirose was the lead pediatric surgeon at the UC San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital and its Fetal Treatment Center, specializing in minimally invasive surgery for gastro-intestinal, biliary, liver and thoracic disorders in fetuses in utero and children. Hirose is one of the creators of the University of California Fetal Therapy Consortium, and has a joint appointment as director of pediatric surgery at Shriners Hospitals for Children - Northern California, where he is developing a surgical program to serve children with complex colorectal and pelvic floor anomalies and a bowel-management program.

Arun Panigrahi

Arun Ranjan Panigrahi, M.D.
Associate Professor

Arun Panigrahi is a pediatric hematology-oncology physician who specializes in the treatment of benign hematology conditions such as hemophilia, Von Willebrand disease, sickle cell disease and thalassemia. He also cares for patients with malignant hematologic conditions such as leukemia and lymphoma. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois.  He completed his pediatric residency at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center and competed fellowships  in pediatric hematology-oncology as well as clinical pharmacology / pharmacogenomics at the University of Chicago.

Noriko Satake

Noriko Satake, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Satake joined the UC Davis pediatric oncology team in 2007 after completing a three-year pediatric oncology fellowship at UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital. A pioneer of innovative treatments for pediatric cancers, Satake's research focuses on the development of targeted therapies for leukemia  and neuroblastoma, the most common cancers affecting children. She has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the 2011 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award from The Hartwell Foundation, a philanthropy that funds innovative and leading-edge biomedical research with the potential to benefit children of the United States, and the 2015 Hartwell Biomedical Research Collaboration Award, a first for a Hartwell investigator from UC Davis. Inspired by the courage she sees in the children, Satake hopes to develop novel drugs that will directly improve treatments and outcomes for her patients. She believes exercise is key to good health, and enjoys unwinding from work with Zumba and kickboxing sessions.