About Us
Members of the Rideout Cancer Center team, part of the UC Davis Cancer Care Network.
Advanced care, close to home
The UC Davis Cancer Care Network is a unique partnership among cancer centers around Northern and Central California that work together to offer their patients first-rate, cutting-edge care close to home.
On this page:
- Overview
- How it works
- Members
- Leadership
- Contact
The network combines the academic expertise and research of UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and the personal relationships and unique insights of community cancer centers. Patients benefit from the latest approaches for diagnosis and treatment while close to home and surrounded by the support of family and friends.
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center has a large cancer clinical trials program and is the only cancer center in inland Northern California designated by the National Cancer Institute for its research capabilities. Its unique research program unites physicians and scientists from dozens of fields throughout UC Davis and institutions such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a major source of biomedical technology and genomics expertise that is also home to the world’s most powerful computer. UC Davis was the first major cancer center to forge a formal research partnership with a national laboratory to harness defense technologies in the fight against cancer.
UC Davis cancer research also benefits from the university’s Clinical and Translational Science Center, established to transform research breakthroughs into new patient treatments as quickly and safely as possible. The UC Davis "CTSC" was one of the first 12 such units in the nation supported by the National Institutes of Health, America’s primary federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.
How it works: Expertise linked by technology
UC Davis Health System is a state and national telehealth leader. Cancer network members use telemedicine technology for virtual tumor boards.
The UC Davis Cancer Care Network provides basic and advanced cancer care for both common and rare conditions.
Using state-of-the-art broadband telemedicine technology, teams of specialists from member cancer centers meet in videoconferences called “virtual tumor boards” to share medical information and agree on treatment plans. Patients then receive care in their own communities from their own physicians.
Virtual tumor boards also provide opportunities for physicians to assess the needs and opportunities for additional resources, such as novel treatments available through clinical trials, or referrals to UC Davis for specialty care. For more information on virtual tumor boards, click here.
Due to their very specialized nature, pediatric oncology services take place at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, in close collaboration with UC Davis regional pediatric specialists.
Affilliates: United by collaboration
The physician team from UC Davis Cancer Care Network's member centers in Marysville, Merced, Truckee and Rocklin/Lincoln.
Hospital-based community cancer centers become affiliates of the UC Davis Cancer Care Network through an evaluation process led by UC Davis. The UC Davis cancer program emphasizes collaboration, and Cancer Care Network affiliate centers offer teams of medical and radiation oncologists, nutritionists, counselors and other support staff who work together to address as many of their patients’ needs as possible.
Affiliates of UC Davis Cancer Care Network include:
- Rideout Cancer Center, Marysville
- Mercy Cancer Center, Merced
- Gene Upshaw Memorial Tahoe Forest Cancer Center, Truckee
- UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sacramento
To read more about member cancer centers, click here.
Leadership: Directed by a leader in patient care
Dr. Scott Christensen
The medical director of UC Davis Cancer Care Network is Scott Christensen, a UC Davis professor of hematology and oncology. Christensen is noted for his dedication to patient quality-of-life and his expertise in breast cancer, sarcomas, melanoma, pain management and hospice care, as well as his work to improve access to innovative treatments.
For more information about bringing the UC Davis Cancer Care Network to your community, contact Kay Harse at (916) 734-5977 or kay.harse@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.
