UCSF has a long and continuing history of excellence in cancer research and care. The tradition of cancer-related research at UCSF owes much to the vision of David A. Wood, MD, who in 1948 was appointed as the first director of the UCSF Cancer Research Institute. Wood felt that the key to curing cancer is “the multidisciplinary approach, both clinical and basic scientists working together.” That philosophy is still the core of UCSF’s efforts. Seminal contributions in cancer research at UCSF include, notably, the work of Drs. J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus, who were awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of oncogenes, and Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2009 for her groundbreaking work on the molecular nature of telomeres. UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center
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