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National Cancer Institute Designation
The UNM Cancer Center is the only cancer center in the state of New Mexico that is designated by the National Cancer Institute. We are one of only 57 NCI-designated Comprehensive cancer centers in the nation. Comprehensive designation is the highest federal designation and rating for cancer centers.
Director’s Letter
Welcome message from
Yolanda Sanchez, PhD
Director and CEO,
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
In the News
Breaking stories from the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Only NCI-Designated Cancer Center in New Mexico
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 500-mile radius.
Its 136 board-certified oncology specialty physicians include cancer surgeons in every specialty (abdominal, thoracic, bone and soft tissue, neurosurgery, genitourinary, gynecology, and head and neck cancers), adult and pediatric hematologists/medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and radiation oncologists.
They, along with more than 600 other cancer healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, navigators, psychologists and social workers), provide treatment to 65% of New Mexico’s cancer patients from all across the state. And they partner with community health systems statewide to provide cancer care closer to home.
In 2024 they treated more than 15,000 patients in almost 105,000 ambulatory clinic visits in addition to in-patient hospitalizations at UNM Hospital. A total of 2,075 patients participated in cancer clinical trials to study new cancer treatments that include tests of novel cancer prevention strategies and cancer genome sequencing.
The more than 123 cancer research scientists affiliated with the UNM Cancer Center were awarded $38.3 million in federal and private grants and contracts for cancer research projects.
Learn more:
Website: unmhealth.org/cancer
UNM Cancer Center Clinic: 505-272-4946
UNM Cancer Center Community and Media Relations: 505-548-0927
The UNM Cancer Center is:
- The only cancer center in New Mexico to achieve Comprehensive designation by the National Cancer Institute.
- Recognized by the New Mexico State Legislature as the state’s official cancer center and received special commendation from the State Legislature in 2003 and 2005.
- Expanding our $100 million, 206,432 sq. ft. state-of-the-art Cancer Treatment and Clinical Research Facility to bring new cancer diagnostic and treatment modalities to New Mexico.
Mission, Goals, Accomplishments and Network
The Mudjekeewis (the Grizzly Bear), Spirit Keeper of the West and Chief Council of all Spirit Keepers and Animal Totems, is an indigenous Native American spirit symbol signifying responsibility, resourcefulness, intelligence, wisdom, introspection, physical and spiritual strength, and expertise.
A problem solver, Mudjekeewis uses his hands and his heart to find ways to do things that will benefit both himself and all of his brothers and sisters.
The UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center has chosen the Mudjekeewis as our symbol because this Great Spirit Keeper represents our commitment to using our hands and our hearts to serve those whose lives have been touched by cancer with courage, knowledge, grace, and great ability.
To reduce the cancer burden and overcome the tremendous cancer health disparities in New Mexico and the nation through
- ground-breaking transdisciplinary research,
- translation of discoveries to community and clinical interventions,
- impactful bi-directional community engagement,
- education and training of a more diverse cancer workforce, and
- the delivery of exceptional cancer care.
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Enhance Transdisciplinary Research: Conduct outstanding transdisciplinary research, informed by bi-directional community engagement.
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Overcome Cancer Disparities: Discover and overcome genetic, environmental, social, and behavioral factors that contribute to cancer disparities in New Mexico and the nation.
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Translate Discoveries to Interventions: Translate novel discoveries to clinical and community interventions and facilitate access to cancer clinical trials across New Mexico.
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Educate, Train, and Mentor: Build a more diverse cancer workforce for New Mexico and the nation.
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Deliver Exceptional Cancer Care: At the Center and conduct cancer care delivery research throughout our catchment area.
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Designated as “the Official cancer center of the state of New Mexico” by the state legislature in 1971 and received special commendation from the state legislature in 2003 and 2005.
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Achieved recognition as a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in October 2005. We competitively renewed our NCI designation in 2010.
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Achieved designation in 2015 as a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, the highest designation awarded by the NCI.
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Recruited world-class physicians and scientists to New Mexico to form the state’s largest team of cancer specialists, with 130+ board-certified cancer physicians and 120+ research scientists.
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Increased the funding from federal, state and private sources for cancer research programs from $22 million to almost $38.2 million annually.
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Established formal research partnerships with Sandia National Laboratories (genomics, high speed computing, drug discovery, nanotechnology), Los Alamos National Laboratory (novel radioisotopes), Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (inhalation therapeutics, lung cancer prevention and research) and New Mexico State University (chemistry, drug discovery).
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Treated patients from every county in New Mexico; 45% came from outside Bernalillo county.
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Expanded our statewide cancer care network with collaborative clinical programs in Las Cruces (with Memorial Medical Center), Gallup, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Farmington. We are developing new collaborative programs in Alamogordo and in Roswell/Carlsbad.
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Created a wide variety of clinical and educational programs to reach out to all of our state’s multicultural populations, including outreach and training in Native American communities with the UNM Center for Native American health, and outreach to our Hispanic communities with Ventanilla de Salud and other programs.
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Introduced the first Theranostics program to New Mexico. Theranostics combines therapeutic and diagnostic nuclear medicine. The drug attaches to cancer cells and, using different types of radioactive atoms, can be used to either image or kill cancer cells.
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Led and continue to lead national efforts to address cancer disparities, particularly in the American Indian Tribes communities of the Southwest.
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Partnered with Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., to open a radioisotope production center in our Cancer Treatment and Clinical Research Facility. This center allows us to produce medically useful isotopes, which are a critical component of powerful cancer diagnosis and treatment
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Opened a beautiful state-of-the-art Comprehensive Cancer Treatment and Clinical Research Facility in August of 2009. This five-story, $100 million, 206,432 sq. ft. facility is designed to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their families in a healing, safe environment.
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Introduced or expanded 11 cancer programs to serve New Mexicans. We offer 17 cancer programs, including neuro-oncology, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, and Theranostics.
Our Statewide Network Serving Patients Across New Mexico
Patients Treated in Fiscal Year 2024 (July 2023 to June 2024).
Senior Leadership
Director and CEO
UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Yolanda (Yoli) Sanchez is the first Hispanic/Latine woman to lead a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is responsible for all cancer research and cancer clinical programs at the University of New Mexico, covering all schools, colleges, departments, and facilities. Dr. Sanchez has authority over all basic, translational, clinical, and population-based research; all cancer clinical trials; and all ambulatory and inpatient cancer clinical services, which include the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMCCC) clinical building and 30 dedicated beds at UNM Hospital. Dr. Sanchez is an international expert in DNA damage response pathways. Her work focuses on exploring oncology targets and drug development for clinical trials.
The Victor and Ruby Hansen Surface Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
Deputy Director, UNM Cancer Center
Associate Director, Basic Research, UNM Cancer Center
Professor, Division of Molecular Medicine, UNM Department of Internal Medicine
Trained in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in England, the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, and UC-Berkeley, Dr. Tomkinson is an international expert in the DNA repair mechanisms that prevent cancer by maintaining genome stability and in understanding how these pathways are perturbed in cancer cells. His work is leading to the development of new therapies which target these alterations in cancer cells. At UNM, he leads teams of laboratory scientists focused on fundamental cancer research.
The Victor and Ruby Hansen Surface Endowed Professor in Ovarian Cancer Research
Associate Director, Translational Research, UNM Cancer Center
Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, UNM Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
A gynecologic oncologist and cancer research scientist, Dr. Adams’ lab focuses on tumor immunology and the development of novel treatment strategies for ovarian cancer. Her lab recently demonstrated that PARP inhibition synergizes with CTLA4 immune checkpoint blockade in BRCA1 deficient ovarian cancer models. This work resulted in an investigator-initiated clinical trial in 2016, which has since been expanded nationally through NRG. The translation of this work to clinical testing has spurred ongoing mechanistic studies in the lab focused on understanding tumor-tumor microenvironment interactions that modulate the efficacy of tumor-directed agents.
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Chief Medical Officer and Chief of Division of Hematology/Oncology
Dr. Dayao serves in clinical and administrative functions at UNMCCC. Her areas of research interest are breast cancer, barriers to health care, and clinical trial accruals and symptom control. Her practice is almost exclusively devoted to breast cancer. Dr. Dayao serves as a local PI for multiple NCI cooperative group, pharmaceutical, and investigator-initiated clinical trials, and she serves on several national clinical research committees focused on breast cancer and quality of life. She has chaired the UNMH Cancer Committee, in which she oversees the Center-wide implementation and completion of standards of the Commission on Cancer.
Associate Director for Population and Data Sciences, UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
Director of Data Science Initiative, UNM Health Sciences Center
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Preventive Medicine
Dr Amos assists in building the UNM Cancer Center’s research programs in cancer population sciences, cancer control, community engagement, cancer-relevant behavioral intervention, and cancer health disparities. He holds a doctorate in Biometry from LSU Medical Center in New Orleans, and his postdoctoral training included a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, where he focused on family studies and environmental epidemiology. Dr. Amos’ research focuses on the genetic epidemiology of cancer. His work has identified genetic factors that influence lung cancer risk and nicotine addiction, and he has published extensively on the genetic underpinnings of cancer.
The Judy Putman Dirks Endowed Professor in Gynecologic Cancer Care
Associate Director, Clinical Research, UNM Cancer Center
Professor & Director, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology
Trained at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Muller is a physician-scientist who conducts research primarily focusing on ovarian cancer. She collaborates with basic scientists at UNM to find a novel component of a repurposed drug, R-ketorolac, that impedes cancerous cell growth and the spread of ovarian cancer. She and her colleagues developed the clinical trials that have recently reported on this novel component. Dr. Muller also serves as the principal investigator of the NCI Minority Underserved NCORP grant that helps to support the UNM Cancer Center research clinical trials network.
Associate Director, Shared Resources, UNM Cancer Center
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Molecular Medicine
Dr. Samudio-Ruiz oversees the development of all eight shared resources, set the direction for new technological acquisitions, and help to procure new equipment to carry out UNM Cancer Center research initiatives. She previously held the position of Senior Lab Operations Manager at the UNM Cancer Research Facility and served as a Research Assistant Professor in the UNM College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado Boulder and a doctorate in Biomedical Sciences from the University of New Mexico. Her research focused on cancer epigenetics, particularly epigenetic alterations associated with the development of platinum resistance in ovarian cancer.
Associate Director, Community Engagement, UNM Cancer Center
Associate Professor Family Community Medicine
Trained as a cultural anthropologist at The University of New Mexico, Dr. Sussman also serves as director of the Behavioral Measurement and Population Science Shared Resource at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center and as co-Principal Investigator of the ongoing GMaP Region 3 grant that addresses cancer disparities through training, education and research in the eight states that comprise the region. Dr. Sussman has designed and led numerous qualitative and mixed method research studies. His research focuses on primary health and cancer care delivery research and patient-provider counseling dynamics among health disparity populations in New Mexico.
Associate Director, Education, Training and Mentoring, UNM Cancer Center
Professor, UNM Department of Pathology
Dr. Gillette received her doctorate in Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado Health Science Center and completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Health. Over the course of her career, she has received many awards and honors. Most recently, she was awarded a UNM Health Sciences Center Regents Lectureship, and received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
Associate Director for Rising Stars, UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
Associate Professor and Director, UNM Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine
Dr. Castillo received his doctorate in immunology from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in cell biology and immunology at The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in 2015. He received his Bachelor of Science in biology from Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) in Portales and a Master’s of Science in chemistry from ENMU.