Moffitt Health Equity Partners to Fund Vital Research

The new Moffitt Health Equity Partners program at Moffitt Cancer Center is all about improving health equity in our diverse Tampa Bay community. And for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s about leveling the playing field.

"There seems to be a notion that cancer hits people equally, but it does not,” said Bryan Glazer, co-chairman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Black men and women have a 210% and 41% higher risk of dying from prostate and breast cancers, respectively, compared with their white counterparts. Hispanic children and adolescents are 20% and 38% more likely to develop leukemia than non-Hispanic white children and adolescents, respectively. And Asian/Pacific Islander adults are twice as likely to die from stomach cancer as white adults.

"These numbers are shocking,” said Glazer, "and we need to find out the 'why' and put people on equal footing to beat cancer."

The Buccaneers became the first organization in the Tampa Bay area to join the new corporate membership program, which provides businesses a powerful new way to improve health equity in the community.

The effort is an outgrowth of the George Edgecomb Society.

Funding from partner support will be used to expand research that advances treatments and cures, provide community education on specific vulnerabilities in Black, Latino and other vulnerable population groups, provide vouchers for regular cancer screenings in many under-resourced neighborhoods and recruit diverse physicians and researchers to Moffitt who better reflect the communities that the cancer center serves.

"This is a fight that we are all in, regardless of race, gender or age, and our goal is to level the playing field and give everyone a chance to beat cancer," said Glazer.

Find more information about Moffitt Health Equity Partners or contact Lorrin.Rucker@Moffitt.org.