Primo “Lucky” Lara
Named UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Director
Primo Nery Lara, Jr. is the new director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, leading a team of more than 300 scientists with an estimated $90 million in annual research funding and a clinical enterprise that serves more than 10,000 adult and pediatric patients throughout the region every year.
Lara’s move into the director’s role comes with unprecedented commitment and support from the university and health system, with enhanced resources to meet the National Cancer Institute’s more rigorous requirements and the growing clinical needs for advanced cancer care in the region. A reimagined leadership and organi-zational structure will enable the cancer center to more nimbly embark on innovative basic, translational and clinical cancer research — the foundation for the nation’s leading NCI-designated cancer centers.
“Dr. Lara is well-respected among his peers and his advice is sought by many,” said UC Davis School of Medicine Interim Dean Lars Berglund. “He is a resourceful and experienced leader, and I know he will build upon the strong foundation already in place at the cancer center to bring it to new heights and continued national prominence. With instrumental institutional support from both UC Davis Health and UC Davis, he is well-positioned to do so.”
Lara, 52, replaces Ralph de Vere White, who retired in 2016. As director, Lara holds the Codman-Radke Chair in Cancer Research and serves as executive associate dean for cancer programs. Lara was selected for the position after a national search; he served as acting director since July 2016.
UC Davis is the only NCI- designated comprehensive cancer center that cares for patients throughout the Central Valley of California, a diverse region of more than 5 million people. With a dual role as both an academic medical center for research and delivering excellent care for the community, UC Davis offers a citywide clinical trials program that enables every eligible cancer patient access to early-phase investigational therapies, regardless of their treating hospital affiliation.
Known to most as “Lucky” Lara, the new director began his career at UC Davis as a hematology-oncology fellow specializing in cancers of the lung, kidney, prostate and bladder. He was invited to join the faculty in 1999. A strong advocate for his patients, Lara works tirelessly to ensure that each is provided comprehensive care and access to leading-edge therapies.
“One of my philosophies has always been that everything you do, whether in the lab, in a database or pathology department, only matters if it eventually touches an individual,” he said. “It can’t be done in isolation. If it has very little chance of affecting a cancer patient, we won’t prioritize it.”
Lara is an accomplished scientist, with principal research interests in the field of developmental therapeutics and in cancer clinical trials development. He has served as the cancer center’s associate director for translational research, which takes novel therapies from the laboratory into the clinic to benefit patients, since 2008. Lara has chaired or co-chaired many trials from phase I to III and has authored or contributed to more than 200 peer-reviewed scholarly papers, most of which describe research into novel cancer therapies.
His leadership in clinical research at the cancer center extends to the broader cancer research community where he enjoys a national and inter-national reputation. In March, Lara was named incoming deputy chair of SWOG, a leading international cancer research organization, where he will also oversee the National Clinical Trials Network portfolio of treatment trials. He serves as editor-in-chief of two journals, Cancer Treatment and Research Communications and Kidney Cancer.
Lara is active in medical education and training, serving as principal investigator of the NCI-funded K12 Paul Calabresi Clinical Oncology Training Grant, which trains junior faculty scholars to be independent, patient-oriented cancer researchers. As cancer center director, Lara is responsible for ensuring the center meets its strategic planning goals and aligning those with the broader university goals. Among them is to grow the clinical program throughout the region and beyond.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to leverage the unique scientific expertise in the schools, laboratories and academic departments throughout UC Davis,” Lara said. “Our job is to make sure that our collaborations result in transformative cancer research and care for each of our patients.”
Lara completed his medical residency at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and received his Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of the Philippines. The first Filipino-American to lead an NCI-designated cancer center, Lara emigrated to the U.S. in 1992 from Manila; he is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. He is one of eight children raised by a single mother, all of whom now live in Northern California. A resident of Davis, Lara is married to Elizabeth Lara; they have two sons, Joshua and Matthew, both undergraduates at Stanford University.