The development of a partnership between the H. lee Moffitt Cancer Center (HLMCC) and the Puerto Rico Cancer Center (PRCC) has been in progress over the past year and has resulted in the joint signing of an affiliation agreement. The close geographic proximity of Tampa and San Juan made this partnership logical. In addition, each of these institutions has areas where further development is necessary, and this particular institutional partnership provides expertise to enhance this development. The HLMCC serves a population that consists of a significantg Hispanic community. Hispanics are underserved with respect to cancer care, and therefore, the HLMCC is committed to improving its ability to deliver cancer care to the Hispanic community in Florida. Expertise obtained from the PRCC will help to accomplish this goal, with the development of a project designed to develop outreach and cancer education programs which target the Hispanic community. The PRCC is active in clinical research; however, they have not yet had the capacity to perform early phase chemotherapy trials and translational research. The HLMCC has expertise in these areas which will be shared with the PRCC. The specific programs that will be set up will include a training program in clinical, translational research for medical oncology and hematology fellows. Additionally, a training program for surgical oncologists will be set up in the technique of lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy. An enhanced capacity of the PRCC to conduct these clinical trials will result in an increase in the number of Hispanic physicians participating in such clinical research, and will enhance the representation of Hispanic patients in clinical trials. In order to develop future translational research specifically targeting the Hispanic population, a basic research project will be developed designed to identify molecular aberrations in oncogenic pathways in tumors from Hispanic cancer patients.
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