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A healthcare organization, cancer center and academic health center have collaborated on an unprecedented partnership to improve cancer care in Florida.
Moffitt Cancer Center, Shands HealthCare, and the University of Florida (UF) announced in late January plans to work together to develop world-class programs in care, research and prevention of the life-threatening disease.

The partnership, unveiled at UF’s new Cancer-Genetics Research Complex in Gainesville, will extend Moffitt’s innovative model of comprehensive patient care to cancer programs at UF and Shands Healthcare.

“As a statewide resource for cancer research and treatment, Moffitt seeks to foster relationships such as these to maximize the state’s investment in addressing cancer,” said Dr. William S. Dalton, CEO of Tampa-based Moffitt, the only Florida-based cancer center with the NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. “This partnership will enhance Florida’s national and international reputation in cancer care and research, and ultimately contribute to improving the overall standard of cancer care in Florida and increase the state’s profile in cancer care and research in the state and beyond.”

Dalton, Bruce Kone, dean of the UF College of Medicine, Shands HealthCare CEO Tim Goldfarb and other healthcare leaders crafted the arrangement, which calls for all parties to seek opportunities to collaborate across the spectrum of patient care, research and educational activities.

“We’re looking for synergies,” Kone emphasized. “Our efforts will leverage their best assets and our best assets to deliver world-class care and discovery.”

Under the arrangement, Moffitt’s Total Cancer Care (TCC) model and approach to a cancer patient’s life journey will be integrated with the cancer program at Shands at UF. Moffitt has 15 affiliates in Florida; the academic medical center in Gainesville is renowned for its pioneering work in the areas of bone marrow transplantation and radiosurgery.

The TCC model is appreciated for its emphasis on quality improvement, attention to the needs of surviving family members, and tissue and data collection required for tailoring therapies for individual patients, Kone pointed out.

This collaborative effort comes nearly two years after the opening of the Cancer-Genetics Research Complex on the UF campus and also coincides with Shands at UF preparing for the completion of its $388 million, 500,000-square-foot cancer hospital, slated to open in 2009. Cancer patients treated there will glean access to high-tech therapies in a comfortable, healing environment.

A private, not-for-profit healthcare organization affiliated with the UF Health Science Center, Shands HealthCare serves as Florida’s leading healthcare referral system.

Goldfarb is enthusiastic about the arrangement because it is “additive, not exclusive.”

“This partnership doesn’t disturb any relationship that our organizations have with other parties,” he explained. “In fact, we welcome others to join us. Through this alliance, we’re uniting our intellectual, technological and scientific resources to truly lead cancer care for the benefit of Florida residents. Our impact together will be outstanding.”

In addition to implementing the TCC initiative, primary collaborations will focus on joint research, co-authored scientific publications, joint recruitment and philanthropy.

Working with the National Cancer Institute, Moffitt will look to integrate the UF and Shands cancer programs into Moffitt’s NCI comprehensive cancer center designation, held by only 39 cancer centers nationwide. Inclusion should provide UF scientists increased opportunities to secure NCI grants for collaborative projects with Moffitt investigators, Kone said. It also will provide UF and Shands patients improved access to large-scale clinical trials of new therapies.

“This collaboration has the real potential to have a major impact on every Florida citizen, because cancer touches all of us,” said UF president Bernie Machen. “Clearly, this is just the beginning. A great deal of work is ahead of us. But the spirit of collaboration that has gotten us to this point is practically unheard of and bodes well for the future of these efforts.”


Caption:
William S. Dalton, president/CEO and director of Tampa-based Moffitt Cancer Center (left, seated); UF President J. Bernard Machen and Shands HealthCare CEO Tim Goldfarb sign documents sealing a new cooperative agreement between their organizations. Watching the process are, from left, UF College of Medicine Dean Bruce Kone; H. Lee Moffitt, a former state senator and founder of Moffitt Cancer Center; and former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, chair of the Moffitt Board of Directors.



March 2008

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