Cancer Services in Tri-Valley Enhanced by New UCSF-ValleyCare Collaboration

The Regional Cancer Center at ValleyCare and UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center have joined forces to enhance patient care and improve access to top level medical experts.

Rishi Sawhney, MD

This affiliation will bring together a team of local and national experts to offer patients the latest therapies and promising new treatments, and will provide local access to a number of clinical trials funded by the National Cancer Institute. Through these clinical trials, patients can participate in the latest anti-cancer therapies while being treated closer to home.

"Our affiliation with UCSF, which is a top cancer research academic center, is part of ValleyCare’s commitment to ensure our patients receive the best care possible," says Marcy Feit, chief executive officer of ValleyCare Health System, which has medical facilities in Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton. "We will be able to provide our local residents with access to numerous clinical research trials and referrals to UCSF cancer sub-specialists otherwise not available locally.”

The collaboration provides coordinated access to a comprehensive array of services available at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the nation's largest clinical and cancer research programs.

“This new venture will allow our patients to get the best of both worlds,’’ said Rishi Sawhney, MD, medical director of Regional Cancer Center at ValleyCare. “For our patients, this means access to university-level care and clinical trials, all delivered with a personal touch in a comfortable environment close to home.’’

UCSF currently is affiliated with six other cancer centers: Enloe Medical Center in Chico; Mercy Medical Center in Redding; St. Helena Hospital in St. Helena; Renown Institute for Cancer in Reno; Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula; and St. Joseph’s Regional Cancer Center in Stockton.

Peter R. Carroll, MD

“This new affiliation reflects our mission to make high-level cancer care more broadly available throughout Northern California,’’ said Peter R. Carroll, MD, MPH, director of clinical services and strategic planning at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC). 

The HDFCCC was designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute in 1999 in recognition of the highest level of excellence in both its scientific research and its ability to integrate diverse research approaches to focus on the problem of cancer and improve patient outcomes.

UCSF Medical Center consistently ranks as one of the top hospitals in the United States. Recognized for innovative treatments, advanced technology, collaboration among clinicians and scientists and a compassionate team of patient care providers, it serves as the academic medical center of the University of California, San Francisco.

Since 2007, the Regional Cancer Center at ValleyCare has provided the latest cancer treatments, expertise, technology, research and clinical trials at its Pleasanton facility. ValleyCare’s Breast Center has received full accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers administered by the American College of Surgeons. ValleyCare has also been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology.

"Every family in the Tri-Valley is affected by cancer in some way, and cancer is a complex disease with many variables,” Feit says. “This collaboration extends our ability to provide the most comprehensive treatment possible. We are very pleased to be able to bring our expertise together with that of UCSF."