The University of Arizona Cancer Center is the only NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center headquartered in Arizona and one of only 56 such centers in the United States.

With more than a dozen research and education offices throughout the state, the center’s mission is to alleviate the burden of cancer in Arizona, particularly in underserved populations, including Hispanics and Native Americans. UACC is a regional resource and national model for overcoming cancer risks, improving treatments through transdisciplinary discoveries, training talented scientists and providers, and engaging communities though a shared determination to discover, innovate, and improve health equity. The center has Banner – University Medicine as its clinical affiliate in Tucson, and it operates local outpatient clinics. Founded by Sydney Salmon, a physician who served from 1976 until 1999, UACC received its first NCI Cancer Center Support Grant in 1978 and was designated a comprehensive cancer center in 1990.