UCSD - University of California - San Diego

11/10/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/10/2026 10:30

Lessons in Resilience: Stein Institute Executive Director Faces Down Advanced Cancer Diagnosis

Published Date

November 10, 2026

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Key Takeaways

  • Stein Institute for Research on Aging leader Danielle Glorioso mustered the tools of resilience she teaches older adults - purpose, gratitude and community - to fight advanced colorectal cancer.
  • Glorioso received state-of-the-art care from a supportive oncology team at Moores Cancer Center.
  • Stein spearheads research into biomarkers of resilience; Moores advances early detection, precision therapies and clinical trials. Glorioso brought the two together through education on cancer and aging.

On September 25, 2025, Danielle Glorioso stood in front of 320 people at the UC San Diego Park & Market building in downtown San Diego to welcome them to the annual Stein Symposium on Healthy Aging. The theme for the year was resilience - the ability to functionally resist, adapt to, and bounce back from aging-related changes and adverse experiences - a core focus of the UC San Diego Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, where Glorioso has served as executive director for 12 years.

What most attendees at the symposium didn't know was that she had been recently diagnosed with advanced-stage colorectal cancer and was experiencing challenging side effects from treatment. Having long studied resilience among older adults, she would soon have to draw heavily on that skill herself. She would discover that survival is both medical and psychological; amid radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, her resilience was fueled by purpose, gratitude, community and a cancer care center that treats the whole person.

"I have always been a private person, but I quickly realized that surviving cancer was not something I could do alone," Glorioso wrote about her cancer journey in the Stein Institute's June 2026 Successful Aging Newsletter. "I shared my diagnosis with family, friends, and colleagues, and the support I received was extraordinary."

Left photo: Danielle Glorioso introduces the 2025 Stein Symposium on Healthy Aging at UC San Diego Park & Market in Downtown San Diego. (Kyle Dykes/UC San Diego Health Sciences) Right photo: Stein Institute Scientific Director Anthony Molina, PhD, Director Alison Moore, MD, MPH, and Executive Director, Danielle Glorioso, LCSW, at the 2025 Stein Symposium on Healthy Aging. (Kyle Dykes/UC San Diego Health Sciences)

Person-centered healing, cutting-edge care

After years of unexplained gastrointestinal issues, a colonoscopy at UC San Diego Health revealed a tumor that had grown undiscovered for up to a decade. Within two hours of receiving her diagnosis, someone from Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health called Glorioso to put her on the schedule.

 "He was so lovely and kind and said, 'You've got this.' They didn't make me figure out all of the legwork," she said. "That initial call from Moores set the stage for the kind of care I got from them."

As one of 58 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Moores specializes in developing new therapies, multidisciplinary patient-centered care, and patient support including social work and counseling.

Glorioso's case was reviewed by UC San Diego's National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC) tumor board, a weekly meeting of oncologists, radiologists, pathologists and surgeons that strategize evidence-based treatment. UC San Diego's program was the first in Southern California and one of only 23 in the United States.

Danielle Glorioso's colorectal surgeon Nicole Lopez, MD. (UC San Diego Health)

"We are a very cohesive team," said UC San Diego NAPRC Director Nicole Lopez, MD, clinical professor of surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "It has been a really wonderful community to build our rectal cancer expertise, because we're able to build off of each other and really tackle the very complex cases that we get."

Just one week after her diagnosis, Glorioso met with her core UC San Diego Health oncology team. Led by medical oncologist Peter Vu, MD, it also included radiation oncologist Michael Sherer, MD, and colorectal surgeon Lopez. All three are active researchers as well as clinicians. Vu heads Moores' Time to Treatment initiative, which seeks to reduce treatment delays using emerging technology like artificial intelligence.

" Dr. Vu is exactly the kind of person you want in your corner: caring, kind and compassionate but also extremely knowledgeable, and he always gave me options," said Glorioso.

"From the very first visit, I aim for clear and compassionate communication with patients and their loved ones," said Vu, who is also an associate clinical professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "A cancer diagnosis changes so much about a person's life, and it can take time to adjust to all of it. Most importantly, I remind patients that they're the ones in charge."

When Glorioso met with Vu for the first time, he advised that she should probably prepare to take the year off work.

"I don't know if it was stubbornness, but I was very determined in that moment that I wasn't going to let cancer take my job and the things I loved from me," she said.

Glorioso underwent the most aggressive treatment options available. Because the tumor was too large for immediate surgery, she first had radiation and then chemotherapy to shrink it. She received 25 daily radiation treatments overseen by Sherer.

"Radiation therapy is one of the original types of precision medicine," he said. " 30 or 40 years ago, treatments could only be aimed in the general area of the tumor. But now the technology is incredible. We can do intensity modulated radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy - all these things that really get down to millimeter precision."

Even with this higher degree of precision, aggressive daily radiation can irritate surrounding tissues. Glorioso experienced ulcers and other side effects.

Danielle Glorioso with her medical oncologist Peter Vu, MD. (Adriel Olmos/UC San Diego Health Sciences)
Transverse and lateral CT scans of Danielle Glorioso's colorectal tumor and surrounding tissues. Her radiation oncologist, Michael Sherer, MD, used tumor contouring to indicate the dose of radiation to be delivered each target. The tumor is outlined in green. At the center, red indicates a high dose. Nearby lymph nodes are shown blue, indicating a lower dose. Nearby organs to avoid like the bladder and hip joints are not colored. (UC San Diego Health Sciences)

" It was hell: I couldn't move and was suffering with severe pain," she said. "I would reach out to the radiation team whenever I had a problem and Dr. Sherer would call me after hours and check on me."

"I think resilience is a huge part of getting through radiation," said Sherer. "It's an important skill set that all of our patients have, and part of my job is to help them unlock that, whether that's managing the physical side effects of treatment or overcoming fear and anxiety."

Danielle Glorioso's radiation oncologist Michael Sherer, MD. (Adriel Olmos/UC San Diego Health Sciences)

During radiation treatment, Glorioso proudly contributed to a colorectal cancer quality-of-life study aimed at improving future patient care. Sherer, who is also an assistant clinical professor of radiation medicine and applied science at the School of Medicine, is a co-investigator on the study, which compares side effects patients experience when they receive radiation with a full bladder vs. an empty one.

"The conventional wisdom that a full bladder pushes healthy tissues out of the way of the radiation beam has never been proven," he said. "But it's inconvenient for people to keep their bladder full. We'll follow patients for several years after treatment, and if there's no difference in side effects, we'll have another strategy in our arsenal to help design the best treatment for each patient."

Vu decided to delay starting chemotherapy infusions until December to give Glorioso's body a chance to recover from radiation. Between then and late March, she completed eight rounds of a three-drug chemotherapy regimen. One of the drugs was delivered continuously for 46 hours via a portable infusion pump attached to an IV bag that she took home, which she referred to as her "sad sack."

"It was pretty intense," she said. "There were periods of time I wasn't getting out of bed for weeks, and I would be like, 'Cancer, you're winning today.' But then the next day, I would get on my sad sack outfit and go for a walk around the block with my chemo bag. I think that perspective helped me get through it."

After radiation and chemotherapy, Lopez worked with Glorioso to prioritize her goals, which included being able to attend her son's graduation from Oregon State University in June of 2026. This meant scheduling her surgery for May so she would have enough time to recover before the event.

"She had so much pain, physical and psychologic, but we got her there," said Lopez. "She just pushed through it, she always dealt with it with grace."

Related content

Signs and Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer:

  • Changes in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation and narrowing of the stool for more than several days
  • Blood in the stool
  • Rectal bleeding
  • Persistent abdominal pain or cramps
  • Unexplained weight loss
  • Anemia (low levels of iron in the blood)

Source: American Cancer Society

"With permission from my medical team, I flew to Oregon with surgical drains still in place and an arsenal of medications," said Glorioso. "It was incredibly difficult, and I shed a lot of tears from the pain. But I got to see my son graduate, and in that moment, all of the struggle felt worth it. It was a huge personal victory that I could not have accomplished without Dr. Lopez and the Moores team."

Resilience in action, purpose as medicine

When Glorioso told her Stein Institute colleagues about her diagnosis and her decision to keep working - primarily from home - they rallied around her.

"They cheered me on through every milestone, celebrated each victory, and supported me through the difficult days," she wrote in the Stein newsletter.

"It's a super exciting and busy time in aging and longevity science," she said. The work that we do here is so meaningful and so impactful that I feel honored to be able to do it."

The Stein Institute is dedicated to understanding the biological, psychological, and social factors that boost healthspan, a measure of quality of life as people age.

" Resilience is one of the things that we know contributes to healthspan, regardless of the challenges one faces," said Stein Institute Director Alison Moore, MD, MPH, Larry L. Hillblom Chair in Geriatric Medicine and chief of the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine. "I have a patient who is more than 100 years old. Despite progressive vision loss, he has been writing novels. He just completed novel #3. That is resilience!"

"Sometimes beautiful things can evolve in the midst of a crisis, and I would say the beautiful thing was how deeply loved I felt." - Danielle Glorioso

But resilience isn't just a trait some people are born with that cannot change.

Glorioso created the Raise Your Resilience Program to help older adults boost their resilience through empathy, self-compassion, gratitude and value-driven activities. The program has been successfully tested in senior living communities, but its core elements are applicable to any age. For Glorioso, they became central to her daily life during her treatment.

Value-driven activities can help older adults build resilience. Left: members of Free Spirits Senior Improv Company performed at the 2025 Stein Symposium on Healthy Aging. The comedy group for community members 60 years and older is sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC San Diego. (Kyle Dykes/UC San Diego Health Sciences) Right: Danielle Glorioso (center) leads a resilience-building exercise at Belmont Village Senior Living in La Jolla. (UC San Diego)

"I still went to yoga, I still went for walks, I still stayed connected to friends and family because those things mattered to me," she said. "And then I practiced gratitude to get through the darkest moments."

Vu says these habits can be beneficial to cancer patients.

"Patients who stay physically active and have a strong support network tend to be more resilient through it all," he said.

The Stein Institute is also a leader in studying the molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms underpinning healthy aging. Scientific Director Anthony Molina, PhD, professor of medicine and research chief in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care at the School of Medicine, oversees the Dynamic Resilience Initiative (DRIVe) at UC San Diego, which searches for universal biological signatures of resilience.

For example, his team developed a biomarker based on proteins found in blood that measures the health of mitochondria. These structures in our cells are responsible for generating most of their energy, and their decline contributes to many conditions associated with aging.

"If mitochondrial health can help someone bounce back after a fall-related injury - which can lead to life-threatening medical complications - is that same process also associated with the ability to bounce back after a bout with cancer?" said Molina.

Because of its leadership, the Stein Institute was chosen as the central lab for the $101M XPRIZE Healthspan Competition to foster the development of new interventions that enhance the human healthspan.

Paying it forward: Building bridges between the Stein Institute and Moores Cancer Center

On May 18, 2026, Glorioso received the news she had dreamt about for the past year: she was cancer free.  She now continues follow-up with Vu and Lopez every three months.

"Cancer is a roller coaster for every patient, no matter the destination," said Vu. "There will always be ups and downs and survivorship brings its own adjustments. We stay alongside our patients as they rebuild their lives and find their new normal."

Peter Vu, MD, discusses Danielle Glorioso's follow-up imaging results on September 3, 2026, exactly one year after her initial diagnosis. (Adriel Olmos/UC San Diego Health Sciences)

"The risk of reoccurrence for people with my kind of cancer is very high during the first two years," Glorioso said. "Survivorship doesn't mean I have crossed the finish line - I'm still in the race. I am learning to trust my body again and to live with the uncertainty that many survivors know well. It is a new chapter that requires its own kind of resilience and hope."

Left photo: LEE Tuh-Fuh & Ruby LEE Wang Zu-Ming Endowed Lecture series donors Linda and Dr. KB Lim at the 2026 event. (Adriel Olmos/UC San Diego Health Sciences) Right photo: Danielle Glorioso addresses the attendees of the 2026 LEE Tuh-Fuh & Ruby LEE Wang Zu-Ming Endowed Lecture series. (Adriel Olmos/UC San Diego Health Sciences)

The annual LEE Tuh-Fuh & Ruby LEE Wang Zu-Ming Endowed Lecture is among the many Stein Institute events that Glorioso organizes. The free lecture series, held every October at UC San Diego's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and established by donors Linda and Dr. KB Lim, brings cutting-edge research to the community to help improve the lives of older adults.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the greatest overall risk factor for developing cancer is advancing age. When Glorioso told Linda Lim about her diagnosis, Lim suggested designing the 2026 lecture around cancer and aging.

That suggestion became a turning point for Glorioso. It gave her the chance to partner with Moores and weave her own story together with the latest research on cancer prevalence, prevention and emerging therapies.

"My hope is that by sharing knowledge, raising awareness, and encouraging people to advocate for their health, we can help others navigate their own journeys and, perhaps, prevent some from facing the challenges that I did," she said.

In addition to Glorioso, this year's lecture featured UC San Diego Health gastroenterologist Samir Gupta, MD, Sam M. Walton Endowed Chair for Cancer Research and professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the School of Medicine and staff physician at the San Diego VA Medical Center; and UC San Diego Health medical oncologist Bassel F. El-Rayes, MD, deputy director of Moores and professor in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine.

Samir Gupta, MD. (Adriel Olmos, UC San Diego Health Sciences)
Bassel F. El-Rayes, MD. (Adriel Olmos/UC San Diego Health Sciences)

Gupta co-leads the Cancer Control Program at Moores, which brings together more than 100 experts to conduct cross-disciplinary research to reduce cancer incidence and mortality, and serves as clinical director of Moores' new Prevention, Risk Assessment, Early Detection and Interception of Cancer through Technology (PREDICT) initiative, which aims to advance the science of early cancer detection and prevention through innovations in molecular biology, imaging and artificial intelligence. This work is especially relevant to colorectal cancer, which is on the rise among people born in 1960 and later, and often goes undiagnosed until it is more advanced.

" For your younger relatives and friends and neighbors, we need to make sure that we're sharing our family history of cancer and the warning signs … for family members and friends who are forty-five years and older, make sure that people are getting screened and that they follow up on their abnormal results, he said."

"All current treatments exist because patients enrolled in clinical trials," he said, noting that Moores has more than 300 trials enrolling patients at this time, many of which are targeted, precision therapies based on tumor genetics and immunotherapy. "The drugs that we're developing today, many of them are way more active than the drugs we have in the clinic, and this is why we are trying to use these drugs earlier and earlier in the course of treatment."

Or as Vu, who is leading the first human trial of a UC San Diego-developed oral immunotherapy drug targeting a new cancer pathway, put it:

"I see clinical trials as early access to drugs that may become the future standard of care, with real risks but also real potential reward," said Vu. "Our patients aren't just waiting for the future of cancer care. Many are helping create it."

Read more news about: School of Medicine, Health Sciences, UC San Diego Health, Moores Cancer Center, Stein Institute for Research on Aging

Related content

Screening Recommendations

Colorectal cancer screening recommendations:

  • Routine screening should begin at age 45 for average-risk adults with no family history of the disease.
  • For people with a close family member who has had colorectal cancer, screening should begin at age 40, or 10 years earlier than the relative's age at diagnosis, whichever comes first.
  • Most people aged 76-85 years should continue screening if their life expectancy is more than 10 years.
  • Screening should stop after age 85 for most people due to a decreasing net benefit.

Source: Centers for Disease Control

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