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 in section (s.)
215.5602
,
Florida Statutes (F.S.), a Biomedical Research Program; now known
as the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program, to support research for
the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and/or cure of diseases related to tobacco
use. 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,
F.S.). Until 2009, $6 million in additional funds were allocated to the Program
annually. Since fiscal year 2009-2010, the Program has received a portion of the
revenue deposited into the Health Care Trust Fund from the increased cigarette user
fee imposed by s.
210.02,
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 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, Inc.
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.
In July 2006, the William G. "Bill" Bankhead, Jr., and David Coley
Cancer Research Program (also known as the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program)
was established in section (s.)
381.922,
Florida Statutes (F.S.). Between 2006 and 2009, $6 to $9 million was
allocated to the Program annually. Since fiscal year 2009-2010, the Program has
received a portion of the revenue deposited into the Health Care Trust Fund from
the increased cigarette user fee imposed by s.
210.02,
F.S.
The Florida Department of Health Office of Public Health Research administers the
Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program (hereafter referred to as "the Program")
with the support of a sub-contracting partner, the Lytmos Group, Inc. 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.
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.
