San Diego Cancer Center: Disease-Specific Programs

Our Program

San Diego Cancer Center's Breast Care Pogram is a multidisciplinary comprehensive program that provides high-risk testing and prevention of breast cancer and treatment of all stages of breast cancer. We work closely with all surgeons and radiation oncologists in the community and at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center to individualize patient care. Multidisciplinary tumor boards are held twice a month to review radiology and discuss each patient’s treatment plan.

Our Team

Rupa Subramanian, MD, is a board-certified oncologist with 10 years of experience in treating breast cancer. She has trained with breast cancer specialists at UCLA and UC Irvine. She has established breast care centers in Orange County and San Diego. You’ll also have access to our full health care team, who will provide a comprehensive plan for your treatment.

Patient Support

• Support groups twice a month
• Clinical psychologist for one-on-one counseling
• Nutrition counseling and support

For general information about symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment, see Breast Cancer.

Our Program

The San Diego Cancer Center's Gastrointestinal Malignancies Program includes colorectal, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, bile duct, and anal cancers. In multidisciplinary fashion we review diagnosis, pathology, staging, prognosis, and treatment paradigms. Our team encompasses diversely talented surgeons, radiation oncologists, and gastroenterologists from the community and UC San Diego.

Comprehensive services include counseling those with high-risk family histories of colon cancer and screening for some genetically inheritable cancer syndromes. Specific recommendations for cancer prevention can vary depending on the risk involved and must be individualized. Prevention is the most important factor including keeping up with routine health maintenance, updating your primary care physician on your family history, and completing recommended screening colonoscopies. These can save lives.

Our Team

Derek Helton, MD, FACP, is a board-certified medical oncologist who trained at UC San Diego, UCLA-Olive View, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Centers. His specialized interest and practice focuses on gastrointestinal malignancies as well as other cancers and blood disorders.

Patient Support

• Support groups twice a month
• Clinical psychologist for one-on-one counseling
• Nutrition counseling and support

For general information about symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment, see Gastrointestinal Cancers.

Our Program

The San Diego Cancer Center's Thoracic Oncology Program is run by Mark Adler, MD, and Fareeha Siddiqui, MD.

Lung cancer is a complex disease with multiple new emerging strategies. Our physicians focus on individualized treatment of patients based on molecular testing of cancers, specialized chemotherapy protocols and consideration of clinical trials to get the best outcomes for all of our patients.

We also run the area's only thoracic oncology "tumor board," in which experts in different medical specialties review and discuss a patient's condition and treatment options. Regular attendees include thoracic oncologists, radiation oncologists, pulmonologists, pathologists, radiologists, and renowned national and international thought leaders with expertise in lung cancer and its biology.

Our Team

Fareeha Siddiqui, MD, believes in the success of communication, empathy and an excellent understanding of tumor science biology in treating our cancer patients. Dr. Siddiqui received her medical training at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. This was followed by a three-year residency at the University of Illinois Michael Reese Program and a three-year double fellowship program in hematology and oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and oncology, with focused training in palliative care and pain control.

Dr. Siddiqui believes in forming strong bonds with her patients and their families in an effort to provide the best possible care through a patient’s most difficult times. She believes in evidence-based, cutting-edge medicine as a way in which to hopefully achieve a cure for our patients, tempered with compassion, empathy and sincerity.

Patient Support

• Support groups twice a month
• Clinical psychologist for one-on-one counseling
• Nutrition counseling and support

For general information about symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment, see Lung Cancer.

• Anemias
• Coagulation and thrombotic disorders (bleeding and clotting disorders)
• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
• Leukemia
• Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas  
• Multiple myeloma 
• Myeloproliferative neoplasms
• Myelodysplastic syndromes 

We offer state-of-the-art, innovative treatments, including less toxic, targeted chemotherapy options. Our facilities include an on-site pharmacy, a comfortable treatment area and a dedicated treatment center staff.

Our Team

Derek Helton, MD, and Fareeha Siddiqui, MD, are board-certified physicians specializing in diagnosis, hematopathology, prognosis, and treatment of a wide spectrum of blood disorders. These include benign and malignant blood problems. Your physician coordinates your care with your primary care physician in an individualized manner. This includes access to highly specialized programs within UC San Diego's Moores Cancer Center, all while supporting you from your hematology home in North County.

Patient Support

• Support groups twice a month
• Clinical psychologist for one-on-one counseling
• Nutrition counseling and support

For general information about symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment, see Leukemia / Lymphoma Unit or Blood and Marrow Transplant. 

Our Program

At the San Diego Cancer Center, we deliver exceptional, state-of-the-art care for numerous types of cancers and solid tumors. Apart from the diseases listed above, we treat cancers of nearly all origins, including sarcomas (soft tissue and bone cancers), cancers of the head and neck, bladder, prostate, ovaries, uterus, cervix, testes, and kidneys, and overlapping disorders.

Our Team

Drs. Mark Adler, Daniel Vicario, Rupa Subramanian, Derek Helton, and Fareeha Siddiqui are board-certified physicians specializing in the individualized care of many cancer and blood disorders. Our team of caregivers can walk you through the complex and sometimes overwhelming process of making the medical decisions that are right for you. We seek to support you with the resources of an outstanding North County community of physicians and nurses, all while accessing the benefits of the renowned UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

Patient Support

• Support groups twice a month
• Clinical psychologist for one-on-one counseling
• Nutrition counseling and support

Learn more about types of cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation, integrative medicine, and others.