Director of oncology services makes Orange Coast Magazine’s Under 40 list
Nicole Ferrer has been instrumental in expanding access to cancer services at UCI Health
Orange, Calif. — Nicole Ferrer, director of oncology services at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in Orange, has been named to the Under 40 Crowd list by Orange Coast Magazine.
The nurse has been instrumental in expanding access to the world-class care at the cancer center, which is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Orange County, as well as the only one affiliated with an academic health system.
Ferrer was critical to the opening of the UCI Health — Yorba Linda Infusion Center as well as the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building in Irvine last summer. A port clinic she established has dramatically reduced wait times for critical central line placements. She also created a rideshare program that has helped patients who face transportation challenges get the lifesaving treatments they need.
Ferrer has been key to securing and maintaining the numerous prestigious accreditations that the cancer center has received, including those from the Commission on Cancer, the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative and other national accreditation programs.
The key to her success? “I now focus more on the relationships I am building with people," Ferrer says. “Healthy relationships and partnerships with people inside and outside of the organization is the foundation to exponentially scaling any business or operational model.”
Read the full Q&A with Ferrer in Orange Coast Magazine.
About UCI Health
UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,317-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, its flagship hospital in Orange, Calif., the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based 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, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves nearly 5.7 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).