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Director, Head & Neck Oncology

  • Company: University of California Irvine School of Medicine
  • Location: Irvine, CA
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POSITION DESCRIPTION

Director, Head & Neck Medical Oncology

University of California, Irvine School of Medicine

Orange/Irvine, CA

ROLE SUMMARY

The Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine at University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine is recruiting a clinical investigator faculty member to serve as Director of Head & Neck Cancer Team. This recruitment will be at the rank of Assistant Professor or above, with clinical and scientific focus in head and neck oncology. Positions can involve clinical and academic activities at one or more sites including UCI Medical Center and/or UCI Satellite Community Clinic locations. Faculty in these positions are expected to be Principal Investigators (PIs) for investigations (clinical, translational, basic science), direct and grow the Head & Neck cancer program, and be productive in the scholarly activities matching one or more of the Institution’s missions: Discover, Teach, Heal.

The Division of Hematology/Oncology is dedicated to education, research, and state-of-the-art care of patients with blood diseases and cancer. Faculty members are subspecialty-trained, board-certified hematologists and oncologists who care for inpatients at UCI Medical Center and outpatients at Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC), which is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Orange County and one of only 51 in the nation. It is one of only 23 institutions also holding a Clinical Translational Science Award. The CFCCC-based cancer program is ranked #46 by U.S. News & World Report (2022-2023).

Division faculty treat diseases that include cancers of every organ system, as well as benign and malignant hematology. Additionally, the Division engages in basic and translational cancer research to better understand cancer and blood diseases and also to use the best, leading-edge clinical approaches for patients. The Division is devoted to making novel discoveries that lead to new strategies for disease treatment and prevention — and to translating them into clinical trials that deliver the most effective treatments to patients. Hematology/Oncology faculty work to foster these discoveries within the context of a dynamic environment that is focused on developing top-caliber physician and scientists.

In addition, the Division provides undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing medical education programs to prepare the next generation of physicians and scientists for careers in clinical and academic medicine as well as for laboratory research.

UCI has a vibrant scientific community with outstanding collaborative opportunities. UCI Medical Center is the principal facility for UCI Health and the UCI School of Medicine’s clinical and teaching programs and is located on our medical center campus in Orange, CA, approximately 11 miles north of the Irvine campus. The 418-bed acute care hospital, listed among America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for the 20th consecutive year, is home to specialty services including an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, the county’s only FACT accredited hematopoietic stem cell transplant and cellular therapy program, a certified stroke and cerebrovascular center, a regional burn center, and the only Level I trauma center in Orange County. A second 144-bed hospital is being constructed on the northern edge of the University of California, Irvine academic campus. This new Irvine Newport Medical Campus will be 575,000 square feet and will double the outpatient clinical footprint for cancer. This site will include a five story Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center & Ambulatory Care. The outpatient facilities will come online in early 2024 and the 144-bed specialty hospital in late 2025.

The faculty position will be in the Health Sciences Clinical Series, Clinical X Series, or In-Line/Tenure Track Series. The series will be dependent upon demonstrated expertise, skill set, and capacity to support an independent research program. (follow this link for more information on faculty track definitions)

Academic rank, faculty series, and compensation will be commensurate with candidate credentials and experience. The salary range for this position is $279,400 to $467,300.

Eligibility:
  • An MD, MD/PhD degree (or equivalent).
  • Board certification, or eligibility, by ABIM in adult Medical Oncology.
  • Be eligible for, or currently hold, an active medical license in the state of California.
  • Candidates are expected to lead and conduct clinical and/or translational research within a specific area of focus. Areas of specialty should include head and neck malignancies. Interested candidates are requested to identify their specialty area(s) of interest in their application statements.

TO APPLY: Please visit the UC Irvine recruiting website. Complete applications include:

The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy. A recipient of an NSF ADVANCE award for gender equity, UCI is responsive to the needs of dual career couples, supports work-life balance through an array of family-friendly policies, and is dedicated to broadening participation in higher education.

THE DIVISION OF HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY

With over 40 physicians and 12 Nurse Practitioners, the Division faculty treat diseases that include cancers of every organ system, as well as, benign and malignant hematology. Faculty members in the Division of Hematology/Oncology are nationally recognized for their groundbreaking work in basic, clinical and epidemiological research into blood diseases and cancer. Researchers with the division of Hematology/Oncology play a critical role in bringing advances from their laboratories and those of other UCI scientists and engineers to the battle against cancer and its ravages on patients’ bodies. Each clinically active faculty member in the division is involved with clinical studies that advance the care of patients with cancer and blood disorders. All the division's faculty members are affiliated with the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center in Orange County.

The division’s research program is funded by more than $6 million in annual extramural grants. Many of our faculty members participate in the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), one of the nation’s largest networks for NCI-funded clinical trials, which conducts major Phase 3 multi-institutional, clinical trials and groundbreaking initial trials that often lead to the development of new drugs and new standards of care as well as better ways to treat and prevent cancer. Additionally, several faculty members have more basic (laboratory) and/or translational research programs.

Fellowship

The Division offers a rigorous three-year ACGME-accredited fellowship program that emphasizes intensive theoretical training and a broad spectrum of clinical experience with the goal of preparing highly skilled hematologists and oncologists for careers as clinical/translational investigators. The fellowship is conducted in concert with the prestigious UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Fellows train in a multidisciplinary environment at UCI Medical Center.  Fellows also provide care and consultative services at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center, offering exposure to a varied population of patients. The program supports 12 total fellows. Our fellowship program has a large didactic component yielding abundant opportunities for teaching and mentorship activities.

THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

The Department of Medicine is a dynamic, multispecialty group of highly skilled faculty members who work at the forefront of medical discovery and education to deliver excellent and comprehensive patient care. With more than 230 highly engaged full-time physicians and researchers, as well as 160 interns, residents and fellows, the department is the largest department in the university's highly regarded School of Medicine, which is ranked among the top 50 U.S. medical schools by U.S. News & World Report.

The department’s "home" hospital is UC Irvine Medical Center, Orange County's only university hospital and Level I trauma center. Clinical training takes place here as well as the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente facilities. Residents and fellows also work at ambulatory care practices on the Irvine campus and at the medical center in Orange, as well as at community-based teaching sites. These comprehensive programs offer exposure to diverse clinical environments and patients of all ages and walks of life.

The department, which is comprised of 11 divisions, oversees a comprehensive undergraduate medical education curriculum, an internal medicine residency program, fellowships and clinical programs in a broad range of internal medicine subspecialties. The Department of Medicine provides a vibrant, challenging educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students, residents and fellows. We sponsor fully accredited internal medicine residency training and a range of subspecialty programs. The department also offers continuing medical education for the region's practicing physicians.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Orange County, CA covers nearly 950 square miles, is the third-largest and second-most densely populated county in California, and is home to 3.2 million people living in 44 cities and towns. Orange County is home to exceptional socioeconomic diversity with some of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation juxtaposed with multiple zip codes that have median household incomes below $45,000. Nearly 30% of the population was born outside of the US, with slightly under 10% of the population existing below the poverty line. Orange County is a majority-minority county with citizens identifying themselves as non-Hispanic White 41%, Hispanic 34%, Asian 20% (including the fifth largest Vietnamese population of any county in the USA), black, 2%, other 3%. UCI is designated by the Department of Education as a minority serving institution, both Hispanic Serving Institute (HIS) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI).

At UCI Department of Medicine, we highly value diversity. Diversity is core to our ability to offer compassionate and culturally competent care in a variety of practice settings, to patients from all walks of life, addressing simple to complex healthcare needs, while working with others who embrace a broad variety of backgrounds, experience, and perspectives. We remain committed to advancing diversity, in its broadest sense, in our programs through recruitment, training, retention and mentoring. This, we believe, is vital to our ability to continue to achieve excellence in serving our richly diverse community through our discover, teach, and heal mission.

RELATED RESEARCH CENTERS AND INSTITUTES
Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC)

UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC), led by Associate Vice Chancellor and Director Richard A. Van Etten, M.D., Ph.D., is the only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in Orange County and is ranked #46 by U.S. News & World Report (2022-2023). For the past 25 years, UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has carried out the mission to alleviate the burden of cancer on the residents of this region. In 2022, more than 8,000 new patients benefited from the advanced treatment provided by the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The CFCCC brings together scientists and clinicians from more than 32 departments across seven schools at UCI, including the schools of Medicine, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Information & Computer Science, Engineering and Business.

Members are organized into three themed research programs that provide an interactive and collaborative infrastructure for cancer discovery, clinical investigation including early phase and investigator-initiated trials, and population-based cancer research. The programs are further linked by the CFCCC disease-oriented teams that bring together basic, translational, patient-centered, and clinical investigators to facilitate the movement of CFCCC discoveries through the pipeline into the clinical arena. Research is supported by seven shared resources that provide their members access to state-of-the-art technology, equipment and expert consultation.

The catchment area of the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC) is Orange County, California, which is the sixth-most populated county in the U.S. and a majority-minority county. CFCCC focuses their basic and clinical research on addressing burdens that affect Orange County.

Stern Center for Cancer Clinical Trials and Research

The Sue and Ralph Stern Center for Cancer Clinical Trials and Research (Stern Center), under the leadership of Dr. Farshid Dayyani, is the centralized office for cancer clinical research operations at UCI, providing high-quality and efficient support for the development, activation, and completion of scientifically impactful cancer clinical trials.

The Stern Center manages the largest portfolio of clinical trials at UCI, with a reputation as a visionary and best-practice leader in clinical research operations across the institution. Cancer clinical trials supported by the Stern Center are active at four geographically distinct sites, the primary CFCCC location on the UCI Health Medical Center campus (Orange), the UCI Health Gottschalk Medical Plaza (Irvine) and two satellite Cancer Centers (Costa Mesa, Yorba Linda).

Stern Center services support the entire lifecycle of all cancer-related clinical trials. This includes support for development and implementation of clinical trials, quality control of clinical research operations, training, and education services.

UCI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS)

Founded in 2006, the ICTS is the lynchpin of UCI’s clinical research efforts outside of cancer. Since receiving the first of three NIH Clinical & Translational Science Awards in 2010, the ICTS has transformed clinical research across the UCI Health enterprise by breaking down traditional academic silos, building robust partnerships in diverse communities and engendering innovative projects.

In 2019, the ICTS was awarded $24 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health as part of its Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program, marking the third successful and highly competitive funding cycle for UCI’s ICTS.

Since receiving its first Clinical & Translational Science Award in 2010, UCI – through the ICTS – has drastically multiplied the number of incoming grants, stimulated important scientific discoveries, and worked with community partners to identify and resolve health needs in the region. To date, the ICTS has provided a safe and comfortable clinical center for more than 27,000 encounters with research volunteers, rendered services or support to 1,112 investigators, helped generate 1,468 peer-reviewed papers published in major biomedical journals, and been instrumental in securing $789 million in grants for UCI researchers.

UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic (ASCC)                                                       

The UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic (ASCC) provides a centralized infrastructure from which to work with UCI faculty and staff to enhance mesenchymal stem cell clinical research and activities at UCI. The UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic:

  • Is part of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Alpha Stem Cell Clinic network
  • Promotes and facilitates scientific collaborations and interactions
  • Provides centralized clinical research infrastructure support
  • Accelerates the implementation of clinical research trials

The UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic provides the necessary infrastructure, and medical and operational expertise to effectively and efficiently drive novel mesenchymal stem cell therapies to clinical trials and ultimately change clinical practice.

The UCI ASCC mission is to:

  • Create a center of excellence for cell-based therapeutics that addresses the unique challenges of testing and delivering novel cell therapies by integrating and building upon the extensive experience of our ASCC network and our partners
  • Build interactive and highly trained teams and electronic data sharing systems to accelerate and translate discovery to improve human health
  • Transform the delivery of cell therapeutics through our proven Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing
  • Advance, expand, and integrate educational opportunities to inform patients, families, communities, and clinicians of the full range of scientifically sound and medically appropriate, regulated stem cell-based clinical trials while providing objective information about potentially dangerous and unproven procedures
  • Serve as a regional, national and international resource for evidence-based best practices in stem cell treatments.

The Alpha Clinics Network funded through CIRM has one unifying goal: to accelerate the development and delivery of mesenchymal stem cell and other regenerative therapies to patients. Five alpha clinic stem cell sites have been funded through CIRM at UCLA-UCI, UCSD, UCSF, UC Davis and City of Hope.

The key to the Alpha Stem Cell Clinics Network's success is its ability to leverage the strengths of each individual clinic—so that together they form an efficient, scalable and sustainable network that will attract and conduct high-quality clinical trials. The clinics support both CIRM-funded and non CIRM-funded clinical trials by academic or industry sponsors.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE

In 1965, the University of California, Irvine was founded with a mission to catalyze the community and enhance lives through rigorous academics, cutting-edge research, and dedicated public service. Today, we draw on the unyielding spirit of our pioneering faculty, staff and students who arrived on campus with a dream to inspire change and generate new ideas. We believe that true progress is made when different perspectives come together to advance our understanding of the world around us. And we enlighten our communities and point the way to a better future. At UCI, we shine brighter.

UCI is consistently recognized as a trailblazer in a broad range of fields, garnering national and international honors in every school. The campus’s diverse academic offerings paired with world-class leadership create an environment worthy of any passionate, dedicated scholar.

Points of Pride:
  • UCI is among the Top 5 fastest rising universities by Nature Index, an international journal of science, which gives high ranks to our programs in chemistry, physical sciences, earth and environmental sciences, and life sciences. The university placed third behind Princeton University and Northwestern University.
  • UCI is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a minority serving institution, both a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
  • UCI is one of 65 universities in the U.S. and Canada elected to membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities.
  • UCI was ranked the #9 best college in the nation by Money Magazine in 2022. The university was the first public institution to top the publication’s annual rankings in 2019.
  • UCI is ranked 9th best public university in the nation and 36th among all American universities – public and private, according to the annual U.S. News & World Report "America's Best Colleges" 2022 survey.
  • The New York Times named UCI No. 1 among U.S. universities "doing the most for the American dream" in its 2017 and 2015 College Access Index.
  • Forbes recognizes UCI as a one of America's Best Employers for Diversity, 2022.
  • In 2022, for the 22nd consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has recognized UCI Medical Center as one of America’s Best Hospitals, with Obstetrics and Gynecology, Geriatrics, and Cancer nationally ranked.
NEW HEALTH SCIENCES COMPLEX

The construction of a landmark 9-acre health sciences complex will be completed by the end of 2022, enabled by a transformational $200 million gift from Susan and Henry Samueli. The new complex will be a showcase for integrative health patient care, training and research. Situated adjacent to the UCI Research Park, the new complex includes a state-of-the-art, five-story, 108,200-square-foot building for the College of Health Sciences, the adjoining four-story, 71,500-square-foot building for the Sue and Bill Gross Nursing & Health Sciences, and the 200,000 sq.ft. Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovative Research Building.

Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences

UCI’s Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences has a tripartite mission to "discover, teach, heal," with an overarching objective focused on interdisciplinary integrative health, into the diverse healthcare workforce of the future and groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Creating a first-of-its-kind alliance across health disciplines, the college comprises the School of Medicine, the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, the recently-launched School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, the future School of Population & Public Health (scheduled to be accredited in 2023), the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, and research units focused on cancer, clinical translational science, precision health, and stem cells. In robust synergy with UCI Health, the only academic health system in Orange County, UCI is transforming education, discovery, and patient care to benefit the region, state, and nation.

Together, the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences and UCI Health form UCI Health Affairs, led by Vice Chancellor Steve Goldstein, MA, MD, PhD, FAAP.

School of Medicine
  • Ranked #51 in 2022 U.S News & World Report
  • $189.7M in research awards
  • 17% of students identify as underrepresented minority
Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing
  • Ranked #52 in 2022 U.S News & World Report
  • $4.1M in research awards
  • 34% of students identify as underrepresented minority
School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Established in 2020, welcoming its first class of Pharm.D. students in fall 2021
  • $7.5M in research awards
  • 19% of students identify as underrepresented minority
Program in Public Health
  • Ranked #31 in 2022 U.S News & World Report
  • $7.9M in research awards
  • 36% of students identify as underrepresented minority
Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute
  • 21,599 clinical visits for integrative health
  • $1.2M in research awards
  • Trains 24 medical students annually in the HEAL-IM Track (Health Education to Advance Leaders in Integrative Medicine)
UCI School of Medicine

Ranked as one of the top ranked medical schools by U.S. News & World Report, the UCI School of Medicine is dedicated to advancing medical knowledge and clinical practice through scholarly research, physician education and high-quality care. The medical school nurtures the development of medical students, resident physicians and scholars in the clinical and basic sciences and supports the dissemination of research advances for the benefit of society.

School of Medicine Facts
UCI HEALTH

UCI Health System is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. Patients can access UCI Health at primary and specialty care offices across Orange County and at its main campus, UCI Medical Center in Orange, California. The 418-bed acute care hospital, listed among America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for the 20th consecutive year, provides tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, and behavioral health and rehabilitation services. UCI Medical Center is home to Orange County’s only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center and regional burn center. UCI Health serves a region of over 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County.

NEW UCI Medical Center-Irvine

In late 2021, ground was broken on a new world-class, acute care hospital on the northern edge of the University of California, Irvine academic campus. This 144-bed acute care hospital, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care, will join the previously approved UCI Health Center for Advanced Care to create the new UCI Medical Center-Irvine, a full-service academic health complex that will bring a broad spectrum of the most advanced healthcare services to coastal and southern Orange County, including access to the hundreds of clinical trials underway at UCI Health. The medical center will connect with the UCI Health primary care network throughout Orange County, including its newest clinic in Newport Beach, creating the region’s only health system supported by one of the nation’s premier academic research institutions.

The new UCI Health medical campus will complement the flagship UCI Medical Center in Orange, home to Orange County’s principal tertiary-quaternary care center; only combined Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma and regional burn centers; and specialty care at the UCI Health Digestive Health Institute and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the county’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.

Within the new UCI Medical Center-Irvine campus will be the 225,000-sq. ft. Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building, offering state-of the art cancer care, rooted in the innovation and excellence of Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. This comprehensive outpatient facility will double the outpatient clinic footprint for cancer, enable colocalized multi-disciplinary clinics for all tumor types, and will have all outpatient diagnostic and therapeutic modalities including Day Surgical and Radiation Therapeutic capacity, for the care of cancer patients.

By the numbers (FY ’22)

  • 1 million+ outpatient visits
  • 21,800+ patient discharges
  • 50,000+ visits to the emergency department
  • 20,000+ surgeries (inpatient and outpatient)
  • 4,300 trauma patients treated annually — more than half of Orange County’s traumas
  • 30 licensed beds in Level III neonatal intensive care unit
  • 21 high-tech operating rooms including two hybrid cardiac care operating rooms
  • 8 beds in the Burn Intensive Care Unit
  • 3 programs ranked nationally by U.S News and World Report (2022-23)
    • Gynecology (#24)
    • Geriatrics (#44)
    • Cancer (#46)
  • >13,000 new cancer diagnoses in OC annually (SEER)
Centers of interest
  • Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • H.H. Chao Digestive Health Institute
  • Neuropsychiatric Center
  • Regional Burn Center
  • Region’s only Level I trauma center and Level II pediatric trauma center
  • Region’s only high-risk perinatal/ neonatal program and maternal-fetal transport system
Highlights
  • Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of 51 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States and one of only 23 institutions also holding a Clinical Translational Science Award.
  • UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center participates in ASCO Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) and has been a QOPI certified practice continuously since 2010.
  • Only FACT accredited Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) and Cellular Therapy program in OC.  Performing HSCT for malignant and non-malignant diseases (eg. Sickle Cell, Aplastic Anemia, Multiple Sclerosis, etc).
  • The rectal cancer program was the 37th program recognized by the American College of Surgeons as a Nationally Accredited Program in Rectal Cancer (NAPRC).
  • Nearly 190 physicians are recognized as “Physicians of Excellence.”
  • In 2022, U.S. News & World Report listed UCI Medical Center among ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ for 22 consecutive years, nationally ranked in cancer, obstetrics and gynecology, and senior health services.
  • Joint Commission awarded disease-specific certification for the UCI Health Heart Failure Program.
  • Earned The Leapfrog Group’s “Top Hospitals” recognition and has 15 straight ‘A’ annual Hospital Safety Scores.
  • Joint Commission renewed certification of Orange County’s first Comprehensive Stroke Center, an advanced designation reserved for hospitals able to receive and treat the most complex stroke cases.
  • UCI Medical Center is Orange County’s first hospital to receive American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Recognition for nursing excellence.
SEARCH TEAM

Corey Lohnes, PhD

Managing Director                                                                                         

314.449.1572                                                                                                     

[email protected] 


Ronald J. Chod, M.D., MBA

Managing Director

314.369.0321

[email protected] 


Lexi Burford

Senior Search Associate 

314.306.2127

[email protected]

 

Setta Gilkey

Executive Assistant

530.565.6050

[email protected]