American Cancer Society honors UCI Health chief of hematology and oncology

July 22, 2019
Edward L. Nelson, MD
Edward L. Nelson, MD, UCI Health chief of hematology/oncology. 

Edward L. Nelson, MD, chief of hematology/oncology at UCI Medical Center, will be recognized as the Medical Honoree at the American Cancer Society Celebration of Life – Drive Against Cancer gala on July 27, 2019.

The medical honoree award, chosen by the American Cancer Society, recognizes community leaders who attack cancer from every angle, launch breakthrough research and enable local communities to support those affected by this deadly disease. 

“I’m honored to receive this award. At any one time, the Division of Hematology/Oncology is conducting 150 to 200 leading-edge clinical trials to benefit our patients,” said Nelson, a professor of medicine, UCI School of Medicine, and professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, UCI School of Biological Sciences. “We are committed to providing the highest quality state-of-the-art patient care, conducting the most advanced research in cancer and blood disorders, and train the next generation of cancer researchers and care providers to deliver exceptional care for cancer patients in Orange County.”

UCI has had a long partnership with the American Cancer Society in the drive against cancer. For example, UCI has held an American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant since 2005, which provides seed funding for promising young researchers early in their career.

Nelson is also a member of the UCI Cancer Research Institute, the UCI Institute for Immunology, and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. His interests include tumor immunology, cancer stem cell biology, immunomodulation and immunotherapeutics.

Nelson and other clinicians at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, manage leading clinical trials to advance the state of care and offer patients treatments they might not have access otherwise.

The UCI Health cancer physicians provide expert consultation and treatment for patients with many different types of cancer, including solid tumor carcinomas, such as colon, breast and prostate, and malignancies of the blood, such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

For more information: http://www.ucihealth.org/medical-services/hematology-oncology

The American Cancer Society is working to finish the fight against every cancer in every community. ACS is the largest private, not-for-profit funder of cancer research in the United States, investing more than $4 billion since 1946. Thanks in part to these contributions, more than 1.5 million lives have been saved in the U.S. in the past two decades. 

For information about the event: https://acsocr.ejoinme.org/CelebrationofLife

UCI Health comprises 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 417-bed acute care hospital provides tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, and behavioral health and rehabilitation services. UCI Medical Center features Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-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 nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.