Assuntina Sacco, MD, is a board-certified medical oncologist trained to treat all solid tumor types with the use of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and clinical trials. She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of head and neck cancers and primarily cares for patients with all types of head and neck cancer, including thyroid and salivary gland cancer.
Dr. Sacco is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Moores Cancer Center, where she also serves as the Medical Director of Infusion Services.
Dr. Sacco earned her medical degree at Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Illinois. She completed her medical residency in Internal Medicine at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. She completed her fellowship training in Hematology-Oncology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she was named Fellow of the Year. Dr. Sacco is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.
Dr. Sacco is deeply committed to providing top-notch, evidence-based, patient-centered care. Her academic research is focused on standardizing cancer care delivery to reduce healthcare disparities through the development of multi-disciplinary care pathways, clinical trials involving novel therapeutics, cancer survivorship, and optimizing treatment-related outcomes and quality of life.
Her dedication to research has resulted in multiple presentations and lectures at national and international scientific meetings, as well as multiple peer-reviewed publications, including first author publication in Lancet Oncology.
Dr. Sacco has been appointed a special expert for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Steering Committee for the Previously Untreated Locally Advanced (PULA) Task Force. She also serves on the American Radium Society Head and Neck Appropriateness Use Criteria Committee. She is also a member of the UCSD Health Leadership Council and UCSD Moores Cancer Center Quality and Value Committee.
Dr. Sacco is also committed to teaching physicians in training. She is the UCSD institutional director for the Spanish Head and Neck Cancer Cooperative Group (TTCC) sponsored fellowship, which facilitates Spanish medical oncology trainees to observe cancer care practices at UCSD. She is also involved in resident and fellow training and didactics at UCSD and is a core faculty member of the UCSD Hematology-Oncology fellowship program.