University of Florida Health Cancer Center is a Leader in Cancer Care

Dear Colleagues,

The University of Florida Health Cancer Center is dedicated to providing Florida residents with leading-edge cancer care and original research for the prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Cancer is the leading cause of death for Floridians, and our state has the second highest cancer mortality rate in the nation. Furthermore, the age group at highest risk of developing cancer—65 years and older—is projected to grow by 25% over the next two decades. Therefore, our efforts to serve Florida have never been more critical.

The UF Health Cancer Center, consisting of 230 researchers, clinicians, and educators, offers a comprehensive care model, with 12 multidisciplinary cancer programs featuring advanced treatment options, including chemotherapy, minimally invasive surgery, robotic surgery, radiotherapy, and participation in clinical trials. We are the Southeast’s most comprehensive academic health center—boasting six health colleges, nine research institutes/centers, two teaching hospitals, two specialty hospitals, and a host of medical practices and outpatient services across north central and northeast Florida. This multidisciplinary membership enables exciting collaborations and encourages translation of basic laboratory findings to novel curative and preventive therapies.

Currently, there is only one National Cancer Institute designated center in Florida; the UF Health Cancer Center aims to become the second, and over the last five years, has been progressing along the four major NCI research initiatives to do so:

• Basic research: The UF Health Cancer Center has reaffirmed its commitment to basic science and understanding how (and why) cancer develops.
• Clinical research: Through improvement in design and execution, the UF Health Cancer Center has doubled clinical trial accrual within two years, and has joined the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN) and the NCI Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN).
• Population-based research: The UF Health Cancer Center addressed population science goals by evaluating and addressing cancer pain, weight loss, radiation toxicity, palliative care, and equity in outcomes.
• Translational research: The UF Health Cancer Center is engaged in research across medical and scientific disciplines, from immunotherapy for brain tumors to developing new anti-cancer agents from sea creatures.

At this unique intersection of research, education, and treatment, the UF Health Cancer Center is striving to find tomorrow’s answers for today’s patients. Recent achievements include $28 million in cancer-related funding, doubling of peer-reviewed funding in the last five years, and developing the OneFlorida data trust, a database of 14 million anonymized patient records including many cancer patients that can illuminate trends in cancer incidence, risk factors, mortality and treatments.

Now that you’ve learned more about us, please consider voting for us for the U.S. News & World Report rankings for cancer.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Licht, M.D., Director of the UF Health Cancer Center