Napolitano has cancer, hospitalization reveals

Janet has been able to consistently perform her wide range of duties and extensive travel at full capacity,” Lozano wrote. “Yesterday, however, she experienced side effects from her treatment that required her to be briefly hospitalized.”

A spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown, Evan Westrup, said Brown’s office was contacted “ahead of time” about her illness but did not respond to a request for more specifics about when the governor was notified.

Napolitano, who previously was treated successfully for breast cancer, was a two-term governor of Arizona, serving from 2003 to 2009, before leaving to join President Barack Obama’s Cabinet. She was secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013.

Before that, she served as Arizona’s attorney general from 1998 to 2003 and as the U.S. attorney for Arizona from 1993 to 1997.

Regent Norman J. Pattiz, who had cancer, said he had no idea Napolitano was sick and that he supported her decision to keep her cancer diagnosis and treatment out of the public light.

“There is a tendency for people to look you a certain way when you are in cancer treatment, even though today most people survive cancer treatments and live a long and healthy life,” Pattiz said.

Napolitano now oversees the 10 UC campuses, five medical centers, three affiliated national laborato- ries, and a statewide agriculture and natural resources program. She is among the highest-paid public employees in the state, receiving an annual salary of $570,000 and benefits totaling nearly $150,000 a year.