Research Overview
One of the great benefits of receiving cancer care at an academic health center like UF Health is unique patient access to the most advanced medical research, treatments and technologies. Our clinician-scientists participate in research that has a direct impact on improved patient outcomes, and allows patients access to the very latest cancer-fighting technologies and drugs. Activities and programs are acutely focused on early stage translational research that applies findings to clinical trials, resulting in improved patient care. Our leadership works with lab-based faculty to develop new ideas to collaborate on innovative cancer treatments and therapies.
FINDING TOMORROW’S ANSWERS FOR TODAY’S PATIENTS
The overarching goal of the UF Health Cancer Center is to improve cancer outcomes. We aim to accomplish this, in part, by promoting research in cancer mechanisms, developing and conducting interventional clinical trials addressing the most prevalent cancers that affect our patients and improving our understanding of the determinants of cancer outcomes in rural, underserved and elderly patients. We are committed to interdisciplinary basic discovery and translational research, and the pursuit of scientific endeavors that have near-term clinical applications. The research priorities of the Cancer Center cut across and align with our research programs:
Florida Academic Cancer Center Alliance
FACCA annual meeting
(This image was taken prior to national guidelines of face coverings and physical distancing.)
In 2014, the UF Health Cancer Center, along with Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, joined to create the Florida Academic Cancer Center Alliance, or FACCA. FACCA was created to address the unique cancer burden of the state of Florida by expediting cancer research and maximizing the state investment in biotechnology. The alliance encourages and promotes collaborative research conducted by researchers at its partnering institutions and supports workshops and meetings to encourage the exchange of information and networking among researchers.
In 2020, the UF Health Cancer Center hosted the fifth annual FACCA retreat, which connected more than 200 cancer researchers, showcasing the newest and most innovative scientific updates from UFHCC, Moffitt Cancer Center and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. The cancer centers’ directors, Jonathan Licht, M.D. (UFHCC), John Cleveland, Ph.D. (Moffitt), and Stephen Nimer, M.D. (Sylvester), and 41 speakers gave updates on drug resistance, metabolism, microbiome, cancer health equity and survivorship, clinical trials, single cell applications, drug discovery and many more.
The alliance also releases yearly research funding announcements for a wide variety of cancer-related research projects. All researchers must be located at one of the three partnering institutions, and all alliance-funded research is conducted by Florida-based scientists and reflects the mission to attract and expand the state’s research capabilities to address the public health challenges of cancer.
