UCI Medical Center Unit Gets Grant for Cancer Program

UCI Medical Center’s division of gynecologic oncology recently was awarded an $850,000 grant to continue its four-year teaching and research training program, hospital officials said.

The program is the only one in the country.

The grant, given by the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health, is aimed at training doctors to do research and manage obstetric and gynecologic research departments at university medical centers throughout the nation.

“There’s a scarcity of these kinds of doctors who specialize in ob-gyn who are able to do and manage research departments,” hospital spokeswoman Fran Tardiff said.

Tardiff said physicians in the program will spend two years learning basic lab research and the next two years using what they have learned to help patients.

Students will do research on cancer, immunology, biochemistry, molecular biology and other medical areas, Tardiff said.

There are currently six doctors in the program doing research on cancer of the uterus, ovarian cancer and tumors in the genital area. Since the program began in 1987, 17 doctors have completed the program and 16 have gone on to teach at universities.

The program so far has been funded though contributions.