H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
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| Type | non-profit cancer treatment and research center |
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| Established | 1986 |
| Dean | CEO Alan List, MD |
| Location | Tampa, Florida, USA |
| Website | moffitt.org |
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H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute is a nonprofit cancer treatment and research center located in Tampa, Florida. Established in 1981 by the Florida Legislature, the hospital opened in October 1986, on the University of South Florida campus. Moffitt is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Florida Moffitt Cancer Center was ranked as the No. 6 cancer hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in 2016.
Funding for construction of the initial $70 million facility came primarily from the state of Florida's cigarette tax, while the momentum to create the center came from a cadre of legislators, physicians, educators and business leaders who envisioned a new dimension of cancer care and research in Florida.
In late 1978, H. Lee Moffitt, a Florida State Representative, recognized the need for a comprehensive cancer center within the state after several friends died from cancer. An excellent negotiator, Moffitt put his plan into motion by first proposing the idea to Dr. Hollis Boren, then dean of the University of South Florida College of Medicine. Over lunch at the Tampa Club, Moffitt proposed his idea. By dessert, Boren has signed on. "Out of that discussion came plans for a plug-shaped, multilevel cancer research teaching hospital to be built a short walk away from the USF clinics," The Tampa Times reported on Feb. 5, 1979. Moffitt and Boren had gathered information about the need for a comprehensive cancer center, the article said, and the need was great. Moffitt sought community support and convinced the State Legislature to fund the facility. During the center's planning phase, consultants associated with NCI-designated Cancer Centers were retained to ensure that the finished facility would be as technologically advanced and as efficiently designed as possible.
Groundbreaking ceremonies took place in January 1983. The center was incorporated in the spring of 1984 and was named for H. Lee Moffitt, then Speaker of the State House of Representatives. The building was dedicated in October 1986 and admitted its first patients that same month.
In 1990, the acquisition of the Research Center building across from the Cancer Center enhanced the recruitment of scientists, clinicians and support staff and expanded Moffitt's vision beyond the original structure. The Moffitt Research Center became the focal point for basic and translational cancer research with the overriding goal to produce discoveries that could be translated quickly from the bench to the patient's bedside. The Florida Legislature allocated $12 million for renovation and equipment for this 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) structure, and the Moffitt Research Center became fully operational in 1995. In 1999, 48,000 square feet (4,500 m2) of basic research lab space was added to the Moffitt Research Center at a cost of $11 million to house the growing need for additional scientists.
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