The Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health is revamping its clinical trials right as its director is stepping down for personal reasons, the La Jolla Light reported June 7.
A spokesperson for the center said it "is in a leadership transition while simultaneously redesigning its clinical trials operations" but said the two are unrelated.
Joseph Califano, MD, made his "own personal decision" to step down as director of Moores Cancer Center after less than a year, John Carethers, MD, the university's vice chancellor for health sciences, told the Light. Dr. Califano will remain director of Moores' Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Head and Neck Cancer Center and co-leader of the structural and functional genomics program, and he will remain a professor at the university and member of the Moores Cancer Center. The system will begin a search for his replacement soon.
Meanwhile, the cancer center is trying to increase its clinical trials after the number of trials dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Carethers said. At the same time, the university disputed a report that said Moores is in danger of losing its designation as a comprehensive cancer center from the National Cancer Institute, according to the Light.