By Nancy Stringer

Have you operated a surgical robot, tasted food that may help prevent cancer, or heard about the newest findings in stopping cancer’s spread? These activities and much, much more will be available at the newly opened Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center during a free, community open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, September 10.

The Cancer Center is located at 3855 Health Sciences Drive, on UCSD’s East Campus in La Jolla. Free parking is available.

“We’re excited to open our new home to the public so they can see and experience some of our efforts to help make San Diego a more healthy community,” said Dennis Carson, M.D., director of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center. “We’ll have tours, demonstrations, lectures, screenings, an information fair, great food, music and live radio broadcasts. It all adds up to a fun and informational afternoon.”

Activities include:

• Self-guided tours that will take guests into the heart of the Cancer Center
• Lectures from leading cancer experts on various types of cancer, nutrition and diet, practical guidelines for cancer prevention, halting cancer’s growth and progression, and caring for the person beyond the tumor
• Screenings for prostate and oral cancers
• Demonstrations of high-tech breast imaging equipment, the newest and most precise radiotherapy equipment, Healthy Foods cooking, and instruction in breast self-examination
• And even opportunities to be a “surgeon for a day” while test driving the DaVinci surgical robot.

For more information about the event, including a schedule of activities, map and directions, visit http://health.ucsd.edu/cancer/openhouse.asp or call 1-800-926-UCSD.

Founded in 1979, the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center is one of just 39 centers in the United States to hold a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. As such, it ranks among the top centers in the nation conducting basic and clinical cancer research, providing advanced patient care and serving the community through outreach and education programs.

Media Contact: Nancy Stringer (619) 543-6163