On Aug. 29, 2016, Scripps Health and MD Anderson Cancer Center announced a partnership agreement to create Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center, a comprehensive and clinically integrated cancer care program in San Diego that will provide adult cancer patients greater access to the most advanced oncology care available throughout Southern California.

Through this partnership, Scripps MD Anderson is part of MD Anderson Cancer Network®, a global collaborative network of hospitals and health care systems dedicated to MD Anderson’s mission to end cancer globally. The collaboration allows Scripps to combine its expertise with MD Anderson’s knowledge and capabilities for Southern California, covering eight counties from Santa Barbara to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Scripps MD Anderson will be overseen by physician and administrative leaders from both organizations. It will offer patients access to MD Anderson’s world-renowned treatment protocols, standards of care, extensive clinical trials and translational research. Patients also will have access to comprehensive cancer care, including medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, pathology, laboratory and diagnostic imaging, as well as other clinical and support services.

Close collaboration between the two organizations will be a hallmark of the new Scripps MD Anderson. MD Anderson Cancer Center will bring a multidisciplinary approach to local cancer patients and provide a new dimension of innovative care and treatment options. Through joint tumor boards, MD Anderson also will provide opinions for diagnosis and treatment.

The two organizations also will join forces in the recruitment of all future program physicians and allied health staff, many of whom will have access to training and education at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Scripps physicians also will have the opportunity to earn faculty appointments at MD Anderson Cancer Center. A national search was launched hire a medical director to lead the new program.