In August, the National Cancer Institute renewed Sacramento-based UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center’s comprehensive designation. The renewed designation includes a five-year, nearly $18 million grant.
The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center first earned NCI designation in 2002, which was elevated to comprehensive status in 2012.
Primo Lara, MD, director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and executive associate dean for cancer programs at UC Davis, shared more about the renewal process with Becker’s.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Over the past grant cycle, what do you think made the biggest difference in earning renewal?
In our view, renewal of our NCI comprehensive designation reflects sustained growth and transformative change across the entire UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, rather than any single investment. This growth was supported by the development and coordinated execution of a bold five-year strategic plan that established priorities and accountability across research, clinical trials, education and training, community engagement and center operations.
For example, during the last five years we strengthened research programs and shared resources, recruited cancer-focused faculty, enhanced center leadership, secured greater institutional commitments and authority and invested in high-impact research, collaborative science and training.
We also improved clinical trial activation timelines, expanded investigator-initiated research and participation in national research networks and deepened community engagement.
We also made significant investments in the infrastructure needed to move discoveries into patient care. These included establishing a cancer research hub at Aggie Square and strengthening capabilities in biomedical imaging, comparative oncology, early-phase clinical research and cancer screening.
Together, these changes created the infrastructure and connections needed to translate UC Davis’ scientific strengths into measurable advances in cancer discovery, prevention and care.
Question: What lessons could other academic medical centers pursuing NCI designation take from that?
Dr. Primo Lara: The broader lesson is that NCI designation should be approached as an institution-wide operating model, not simply as a grant application. Academic medical centers need a bold but actionable strategic plan, sustained institutional commitment, clear accountability and deliberate investment in the people, research platforms, clinical infrastructure and community partnerships that connect discovery with patient and population impact. They also must demonstrate the added value of the cancer center by showing how it brings multiple disciplines together, directs resources toward shared priorities and enables accomplishments that would not otherwise be possible.
Question: Part of the cancer center’s recent work prioritized reducing cancer disparities among rural and underserved communities. What does that work look like on the ground?
PL: We are bringing cancer prevention and early detection services closer to the people and communities who face some of the greatest barriers to accessing them. We work alongside community organizations, federally qualified health centers, health systems and local leaders to identify gaps in cancer prevention and screening and develop solutions that reflect the realities of the communities we serve. This includes bringing screening directly into communities through services such as:
- Our mobile mammography bus
- Partnering with health centers and health systems to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate cancer prevention and control education to their patients.
- Training primary care teams and community health professionals on evidence-based cancer screening strategies.
- Working with community and healthcare partners to address barriers to screening and ensure timely access to follow-up care.
Question: UC Davis is manufacturing CAR-T cells on-site and running the region’s only phase 1 trials. As health systems weigh whether to build versus refer out for advanced cell therapy and early-phase trial infrastructure, what’s your take on if or when that investment makes sense?
PL: Early-phase trial infrastructure and manufacturing require significant investments in physical infrastructure and the development of core skills, talent, and processes across multiple departments and disciplines. For a health system considering whether to build these capabilities, the decision should begin with a thorough assessment of its core business, mission, patient population, partnerships and long-term strategic planning.
It is unnecessary for every health system to develop its own early-phase trial infrastructure or cell therapy manufacturing capabilities. That does not mean those systems cannot provide their patients with the benefit of access to these therapies and trials. UC Davis believes that healthcare is better when delivered through an ecosystem of partnerships and complementary networks. The world-class scientists, clinicians and compassionate staff at UC Davis are dedicated to taking on the difficult work of developing capabilities and delivery models that help make advanced therapies more accessible to other health systems and more affordable to patients.
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