UC Irvine Giving Day 2025

Help Us Discover Personalized Head and Neck Cancer Treatments 

Help us meet the challenge! In honor of Giving Day, a generous head and neck cancer patient and donor is offering this challenge. The first 15 gifts received will unlock $37,500 in support of Head and Neck Cancer education, research and programs. When we reach 25 gifts, an additional $37,500 will be unlocked!

Gifts received on this year’s Giving Day will support ENT resident education in memory of Dr. Victor Passy, who brought academic otolaryngology to Orange County in 1967 as the founder of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. Dr. Passy built his career centered on humanism for patients, colleagues and especially trainees. He served as a steward of the otolaryngology specialty and was passionate about sharing it with others. He received numerous university teaching awards including a “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2005 for his extraordinary contributions to otolaryngology education and patient care. He and a patient of his developed the Passy-Muir tracheostomy speaking valve, which is now used worldwide to restore voice to patients with a tracheostomy. Dr. Passy consistently emphasized the importance of otolaryngology education and was a consummate ambassador of our specialty. He passed away this past June, 2024 at the age of 93.

Gifts will also support our pathbreaking cancer research and treatments, which carry on the legacy of excellence that Dr. Passy embraced and which continue to impact current and future generations.

As the only academic head and neck cancer center in Orange County, our surgeons are dedicated to delivering state-of-the-art care with compassion.

Led by Dr. Tjoson Tjoa, the head and neck cancer team at UCI Health and UC Irvine School of Medicine is deeply committed to improving the care and treatment of head and neck cancer patients. We focus not only on the treatment of head and neck cancers, but also maintaining quality of life with minimally invasive treatment options. Our goal is to provide a multidisciplinary, research-driven approach to cancer treatment so that every patient receives personalized care from our world-class team of specialists.

Backed by the only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center based in Orange County, we are one of the most innovative head and neck cancer programs in the world, at the forefront of research, training the next generation of head and neck surgeons, and leading the way to a cure. Help support our efforts to advance our vital research and life-saving care this giving day!

We are proud to share that our department:

• Saw and treated over 5,000 patients in ambulatory clinics in Orange and Irvine in 2024.
• Performed over 1,100 surgeries in 2024.
• Began a collaboration in the Center for Neural Circuit Mapping to investigate the genomic composition of head and neck cancers.
• Contributed as first or senior author on 60 manuscripts, and authored 110 total scientific articles.

All donations benefit the essential, life-saving care and programs only available through the UCI Health ENT program, including the following vital programs and resources.

• Head and Neck Cancer Research – breakthrough clinical and basic science research, advancing innovative trials of new drugs and pioneering surgical techniques, which are moving us towards the personalization of head and neck cancer treatments.
• Rehabilitation Services – dedicated personnel and resources that are directed at helping patients navigate more easily through the many different challenges they face.
• Head and Neck Cancer Education – supporting lectureships, residents and fellowships and physician continuing education.
• Robotic Equipment Needs – funding for advanced, precision da Vinci robotic systems for head and neck cancer surgery, reducing and often eliminating the need for radiation therapy, greatly improving patient outcomes and quality of life.

Last year during our first Giving Day campaign, we raised over $28,000 from 26 gifts in support of our vital head and neck cancer care, pathbreaking research and compassionate patient care.

We invite you to join us again this year to meet or exceed that goal so we can continue to advance our innovative research and to find a cure.
 
Please contact Joy Kliewer, PhD, senior director of development, at joy.kliewer@uci.edu or 310-486-9265 to learn more about the Head and Neck Cancer team’s research and opportunities for support.