Daniel Vicario, M.D., ABIHM
Medical Oncology and Integrative Oncology
Co-Founder, Board Member, Director Integrative Oncology
San Diego Cancer Research Institute. 501 (c) (3)
Co-Founder, San Diego Cancer Center (SDCC), now U.C. San Diego Cancer Center, North County
Former Medical Director, SDCC and U.C. San Diego Cancer Center
Part-time Integrative Oncology consultant, Guarneri Integrative Health at Pacific Pearl, La Jolla, CA
Former Integrative Oncology consultant, Chopra Center for Wellbeing
Board of Directors, Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI). 501 (c) (3)
Director, Medicine of the Soul Foundation. 501 (c) (3)
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California San Diego
Dr. Vicario is a Medical Oncologist who’s been focusing on Integrative Oncology for the last two decades. He was co-Founder and Medical Director of the San Diego Cancer Center (now U.C. San Diego Cancer Center, North County) from 1994 to 2015. He remains Medical Director and Director Integrative Oncology of the nonprofit San Diego Cancer Research Institute (SDCRI).
After he graduated with honors from the University of Buenos Aires, School of Medicine in 1983, he returned to his native California and was a Fellow in Clinical Pharmacology at Stanford University Medical Center. Then from 1985 to 1989 he did his Residency and was Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at the University of California Irvine. From 1989 to 1992 he specialized in Hematology/Oncology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). He was then appointed Assistant Clinical Professor from 1992 to 1994.
In 1994 Dr. Vicario co-founded with Dr. Mark Adler, the San Diego Cancer Center (SDCC) where he was Medical Director for two decades. In 2011, the SDCC became part of the University of California San Diego (UCSD), and Dr. Vicario remained Medical Director until 2015. Dan also co-founded with Dr. Adler the San Diego Cancer Research Institute (SDCRI) in the year 1998, a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization. His research interests and publications have focused on cancer prevention, Immunotherapy of cancer, treatment of advanced cancers, genomic oncology, Integrative Oncology and improving the quality of life of patients with cancer.
Dr. Vicario is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology and Integrative Medicine, and strives to incorporate all three specialties when caring for his patients. As a physician, he specialized in Medical Oncology, Integrative Oncology and Palliative Medicine. For over three decades, Dan also studied, experienced and practiced Integrative Medicine, Integrative Oncology, and several ancient healing traditions including Ayurveda and Indigenous Medicine. He’s been a speaker at multiple national and international medical, scientific and integrative medicine conferences.
In 1995 Dr. Vicario created and directed the Integrative Oncology Program at the San Diego Cancer Center (SDCC). This Integrative Program emerged at SDCC and it expanded rapidly in 1998, under the umbrella of the nonprofit San Diego Cancer Research Institute (SDCRI), with the help of a large number of volunteers, for which Dan remains deeply grateful. It was truly a co-creation with the community of healing practitioners. Dr. Vicario continues to honor this community of patients and volunteers coming together to co-create such a successful Integrative program that benefited hundreds of cancer patients and their loved ones for over two decades. Unfortunately, for reasons explained on this SDCRI website, the integrative oncology program had to close in 2015. Dan remains forever grateful for the countless hours that the integrative healing practitioners lovingly devoted to the patients and the San Diego community over those two decades.
In 2015 Dr. Vicario made the decision to completely focus on Integrative Oncology, supporting cancer patients in collaboration with his physician colleagues and Integrative practitioners. He remains the Medical Director and Director Integrative Oncology of the nonprofit San Diego Cancer Research Institute (SDCRI). He conducts research and education in the fields of cancer prevention, genomic oncology, epigenetics, biofield therapies, evidenced-based complementary healing disciplines, traditions and modalities to support cancer patients, Integrative Oncology and palliative medicine. He continues to be devoted to improving the quality of life of cancer patients through clinical research and education, in collaboration with several Universities, Academic and Scientific Institutions, Research Centers and Non-profit Organizations.
Since 1989, Dan has served the San Diego community as a volunteer in a wide variety of non-profit health care related functions, including Medical Director of three Hospices for several years, Chairman of Cancer Committees, several Professional Advisory Boards, speaker for Survivorship San Diego and board member of several nonprofit cancer organizations. Dr. Vicario has received multiple recognitions and awards for his tireless and innovative support of cancer patients. He has been teaching for over 35 years. He feels that his patients are and have always been his real and true teachers.
Updated Deccember 2023