Become a Member

UCLA cancer reseacher Dr. Roger Lo and his lab team
Dr. Roger Lo (right) with members of his lab team. Dr. Lo is one of more than 500 physicians and scientists at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center working together to prevent, treat and cure cancer.

Member Application and Guidelines

Click the buttons below to download the New Member Application form and Member Guidelines & Objectives (Adobe PDF format).

New Member Application
Membership Guidelines & Objectives

About UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Membership

Cancer Center membership is potentially available to all faculty with their primary appointment at UCLA or partner institution, Caltech. Members must have a predominant and productive interest in cancer and/or related disciplines, the ability and willingness to contribute to the Cancer Center, and a primary appointment and academic title in the Regular, In-Residence, Adjunct or Clinical Instructor series at UCLA or Caltech. Application for membership in the Cancer Center is voluntary and connotes agreement by the applicant with the Center’s membership expectations (see below).

Cancer Center membership is usually offered only in conjunction with prior departmental appointments; therefore, approval by the applicant’s departmental chair is required. 

Applicants should indicate on the application form the Cancer Center Program that best fits their primary area of interest. The Cancer Center currently operates six Programs:

Applicants, whose interests lie outside any of the defined Cancer Center Programs, should explain their situation by describing their cancer-related activities briefly on the application form. A limited number of members may be categorized as “Non-Programmatically Aligned”, however the majority of members will be assigned to one of the above research programs most closely aligned with their research focus.

Application Review Process

Initial applications for membership are reviewed by JCCC leadership on an ongoing basis. In addition, all membership is reviewed by Cancer Center leadership on an annual basis. During the initial application and annual review processes, supplemental materials may be requested. Criteria for reviewing applications are included below. Applicants must have a primary faculty appointment at UCLA or Caltech and meet at least one of the Primary Evaluation Criteria. Additional consideration will be given to applicants who meet the Secondary Evaluation Criteria. 

Primary evaluation criteria

  • Active peer-reviewed cancer-focused funding
  • Cancer-relevant publications during previous three years
  • Developing, leading, and accruing to cancer clinical trials
  • Junior investigator developing an early cancer-focused program that shows significant promise

Secondary evaluation criteria

  • Leading cancer training programs/activities
  • Cancer-relevant national or community service, such as study sections, consultation to the NCI, voluntary assistance to cancer organizations, etc.
  • Services to the JCCC through committee activities, community outreach and engagement activities, etc.

Benefits of Cancer Center Membership

  1. Participation in a highly collaborative cancer-research community
  2. Priority access to and subsidized rates for JCCC shared resources and core services* 
  3. Ability to apply for research space during JCCC space review cycles
  4. Access to JCCC Clinical Research Unit (CRU)
  5. Support from Communications staff for assistance with press releases and media relations
  6. Assistance with fundraising through the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation (JCCF)
  7. Inclusion in JCCC meetings, retreats, symposia, seminars and other events
  8. Inclusion in JCCC communications of funding opportunities and other updates
  9. Ability to apply for funding through the JCCC Intramural Awards Program**

Note: *JCCC shared resources and core services subsidized rates are not available to members whose primary appointment is at an affiliate institution.

Note: **Under specifically defined circumstances, non-member faculty may also have access to JCCC intramural award program funding opportunities (see separate guidelines for seed grant and fellowship support).

Expectations of Cancer Center membership

  1. Active participation in programmatic and center-wide activities
  2. Service to the JCCC through participation on committees, community outreach and engagement activities, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusions activities, and/or participation with Office of Cancer Training and Education activities.
  3. All cancer researchers, whether members or not, must submit their proposed clinical cancer research protocols on which they are the principal investigator through the JCCC’s formal two-stage review and approval process. First-stage is to one of 15 Disease Site Groups (DSGs) and second-stage is to the Internal Scientific Peer Review Committee (ISPRC). Only protocols approved through both stages of this formal review process may open at UCLA. We are required by the NCI to peer review all clinical protocols.
  4. All members must acknowledge JCCC support as appropriate in publications and in presentations/media coverage, etc.
  5. Adhere to the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy as applicable, including registration of all necessary and appropriate clinical trials in the ClinicalTrials.gov registry.
  6. Include the following acknowledgement in appropriate publications:
    Supported by the NIH/NCI under award number P30CA016042 and used the [name of the CCSG shared resource(s) if applicable]
  7. Adherence to the NIH Public Access Policy, all members must obtain a PMCID for all peer-reviewed manuscripts that were directly supported by the NIH, or received direct cost support from the JCCC core grant (i.e., use of JCCC shared resources or Intramural Awards Program funds).
  8. Provide all requested documentation in a timely manner to the Cancer Center administrative team as requested for inclusion in the yearly Cancer Center Support Grant reports and submissions.
  9. All cancer researchers who receive JCCC intramural awards program funding, whether members or not, must provide annual return on investment updates as requested. 

Application Procedures

  1. Please carefully review these Membership Guidelines paying special attention to the Member Expectations. Additional information may be obtained, if required by emailing Amanda Tan ([email protected]).
  2. Complete the membership application form and all required attachments. Incomplete applications will be returned for completion before review. Applications for membership should be submitted electronically to Amanda Tan ([email protected]).
  3. Each application will be reviewed by the respective Program Director(s) and approved by the Cancer Center leadership.
  4. Members will be notified via email on the outcome of their application review. The review process will generally take about a month. Please contact Amanda Tan with any questions during the process.