The Florida Biomedical Research Programs administered by the Florida Department of Health, Office of Public Health Research, includes two grant-funding programs; the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program and the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program.
In 1999, the Florida Legislature established a Biomedical Research Program; now known as the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program, to support biomedical and behavioral research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of tobacco-related diseases. Since its inception, Program funding has come from the interest earned on a $150 million reserve within the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, a fund established with monies received from the tobacco industry through Florida’s tobacco lawsuit settlement agreement (s. 215.5601
, Florida Statutes (F.S.)). Additionally, beginning in fiscal year 2006-2007, the Florida legislature appropriated a sum of $6 million from recurring funds in the General Revenue Fund to the Biomedical Research Trust Fund within the Florida Department of Health for purposes of the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program pursuant to s. 215.5602, F.S. From these funds up to $250,000 shall be available for the operating costs of the Florida Center for Universal Research to Eradicate Disease. The Florida Department of Health, through the Office of Public Health Research administers the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program (hereafter referred to as “the Program”) with the support of a sub-contracting partner, the Lytmos Group. The Program also solicits program recommendations and suggestions on policy alternatives from the Biomedical Research Program Advisory Council consistent with Chapter 20, and s. 215.5602, F.S.
The Florida Legislature has given the Program the following goals:
- To research better prevention, diagnosis, treatments, and cures of diseases related to tobacco use and thereby expand the foundation of biomedical knowledge and improve the health of Floridians
- To bring the advances of biomedical research into the training of healthcare workers
- To undertake new initiatives in biomedical research that will attract additional funding and stimulate economic activity in areas related to biomedical research
Any university or research institute in Florida may apply for grant funding to support these goals, and all qualified investigators in the state, regardless of institution, have equal opportunity to compete for funding. All awards are made based on scientific merit, as determined by open competitive peer review.
The James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program will be the prime resource in the state for support of biomedical research and technology development, and will be nationally recognized as an effective stimulus of new biomedical knowledge to improve the health of citizens and to encourage economic development.
The mission of the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program is to provide increasingly significant levels of funding to Florida research institutions for the performance of high-quality and high-impact biomedical research and technology development to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of tobacco-related diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and pulmonary disease.
To view or print a brochure about the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program, click here (.pdf, 1.95MB) .
On June 13, 2006, Governor Bush signed into law legislation presented by the Florida House and Senate authorizing the investment of $120 million in biomedical research in Florida over a four-year period. The William G. “Bill” Bankhead, Jr., and David Coley Cancer Research Program (also known as the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program) is an important component of this investment. Beginning in fiscal year 2006-2007, Florida lawmakers agreed to appropriate the sum of $9 million annually from recurring funds in the General Revenue Fund in response to compelling evidence that more cancer research and improved cancer treatment is necessary in the state.
Newly embodied in s. 381.922, Florida Statutes (F.S.), the Program was created effective July 1, 2006 within the Florida Department of Health, and is supported by the advice and counsel of Florida Biomedical Research Advisory Council. Consistent with their intent to stimulate a synergistic statewide focus to the pursuit of cancer cures, the Legislature directly linked the goals of the Program to those already established for the Florida Cancer Council in s. 381.921, Florida Cancer Council Mission and Duties, F.S.
Section 1 of the enabling legislation for the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program explicitly describes three important elements of the legislative intent in creating the program:
- To provide funding to support grants for biomedical research in this state with the anticipation that sustained funding for biomedical research over a period of years will lead to an alleviation of human suffering from diseases such as cancer
- To dramatically reduce this state’s inordinately high cancer burden, reducing both cancer incidence and mortality, while advancing scientific endeavors in this state, making this state a world class leader in cancer research and treatment
- To stimulate dramatic economic development, particularly in the biotechnology industry, through investment in this state’s biomedical research.
Program staff accepts these elements as the framework for establishing goals that are more specific, along with emphasis on the following:
- Significantly expand cancer research capacity in the state by:
- Identifying ways to attract new research talent and attendant national grant-producing researchers to cancer research facilities in this state
- Implementing a peer-reviewed, competitive process to identify and fund the best proposals to expand cancer research institutes in this state
- Funding through available resources for those proposals that demonstrate the greatest opportunity to attract federal research grants and private financial support
- Encouraging the employment of bioinformatics in order to create a cancer informatics infrastructure that enhances information and resource exchange and integration through researchers working in diverse disciplines, to facilitate the full spectrum of cancer investigations
- Facilitating the technical coordination, business development, and support of intellectual property as it relates to the advancement of cancer research
- Aiding in other multidisciplinary research-support activities as they inure to the advancement of cancer research.
- Improve both research and treatment through greater participation in clinical trials networks by:
- Identifying ways to increase adult enrollment in cancer clinical trials;
- Supporting public and private professional education programs designed to increase the awareness and knowledge about cancer clinical trials
- Providing tools to cancer patients and community-based oncologists to aid in the identification of cancer clinical trials available in the state
- Creating opportunities for the state's academic cancer centers to collaborate with community-based oncologists in cancer clinical trials networks.
- Reduce the impact of cancer on disparate groups by:
- Identifying those cancers that disproportionately impact certain demographic groups
- Building collaborations designed to reduce health disparities as they relate to cancer.
Any university or research institute in Florida may apply for grant funding to support these goals, and all qualified investigators in the state, regardless of institution, have equal opportunity to compete for funding. All awards are made based on scientific merit, as determined by open competitive peer review.
