THE DON SHULA FOUNDATION DONATED $1.5 MILLION TO MOFFITT, and in a video shown at the 2014 Magnolia Ball, Don Shula challenged guests to match the gift, which establishes The Shula Fund. “Cancer has touched our family personally. And I know that the more we give to cancer research, the closer we are to finding a cure,” Shula said. “We want to make a difference in this fight, and we want you to be on our team.” He added that the fund encourages Moffitt scientists to begin promising pilot projects that will lead to improved treatments for cancer patients everywhere.
MOFFITT NAMED ITS PRECISION MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS LABORATORY AND NEW PATIENT AND FAMILY CENTER AFTER PHILANTHROPISTS CAROL AND FRANK MORSANI. The Morsani Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, under the direction of Executive Director Anthony M. Magliocco, M.D., is revolutionizing cancer diagnostics by using the most advanced genetic testing tools available to reduce errors and improve patient care. The Morsani Patient and Family Center will be the heart of the new 200,000-square-foot McKinley Outpatient Facility scheduled to open next summer. The Morsani family have been longtime supporters of Tampa’s health care community, including contributions to Moffitt.
THE NEWLY ANNOUNCED ONCOLOGY RESEARCH INFORMATION EXCHANGE NETWORK (ORIEN) is a collaboration between two of North America’s leading cancer centers, Moffitt Cancer Center and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, with the goal to develop more precise ways to prevent, detect, diagnose and treat cancers. ORIEN will utilize a single protocol, Total Cancer Care®, to accelerate the development of targeted treatments, allowing researchers and clinicians to more quickly match eligible patients to clinical trials.
MOFFITT RESEARCHERS LAID GROUNDWORK FOR A REVOLUTIONARY COMBINATION THERAPY TO TREAT ADVANCED MELANOMA – melanoma that cannot be removed surgically or has spread to other areas of the body. The newly FDA-approved therapy, Mekinist (trametinib) in combination with Tafinlar (dabrafenib), is one of the biggest advancements in melanoma treatment in the last three decades.
NEWSWEEK’S MARCH 28 ISSUE FEATURED MOFFITT’S INTEGRATED MATHEMATICAL ONCOLOGY DEPARTMENT AS THE COVER STORY, “Solving Cancer: You Can’t Cure What You Don’t Understand.” Our brigade of mathematicians and oncologists hopes that by mathematically modeling cancer, we can “make its movements as predictable as those of a hurricane.” The program merges the fields of oncology and mathematics with the goal of using an integrated approach to better understand, predict and treat cancer. Moffitt is the only cancer hospital in the country to have such a program.
