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Monday, October 1, 2012

More than $12 Million in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Grants for Puerto Rico

Washington, DC—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded 10 grants worth over $12 million to Puerto Rico, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi announced today. The grants will be used to strengthen the partnership between the Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences (PSM) and the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida in order to help cancer patients in Puerto Rico; to provide scholarships to economically-disadvantaged students who are studying to become health professionals; to expand the services offered to individuals with substance abuse problems; and to improve the care provided to the Island’s elderly population.

First, PSM has received a grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), known as a U54 grant, to support and strengthen its cooperative agreement with Moffit, which has been in place for eight years. The grant is for nearly $1.4 million a year, for at least five years, totaling about $7.0 million. In addition, Moffitt will receive a grant in approximately the same amount, meaning the total amount provided to both institutions over the life of the grant will be about $14 million.

In July, the Resident Commissioner wrote a letter to the Director of NCI in strong support of the joint grant application, stating that U54 funding would “sustain and strengthen the extraordinarily constructive partnership that was established between the two institutions in 2004.”

NCI operates a program to enable certain institutions to develop partnerships designed to mitigate and ultimately eliminate cancer-related disparities facing Hispanics and other minority groups.

“PSM and Moffitt, with the help of NCI funding, have established a research, training and community outreach program that is tailored to the specific needs of Hispanic cancer patients living in Puerto Rico and Florida, who have generally been underserved when it comes to quality of care, personalized medicine, and participation in clinical research trials,” said Pierluisi.

The PSM-Moffitt partnership is the primary source of care for cancer patients living in southern and central Puerto Rico. “The partnership has already led to approximately 50 scholarly publications and 30 research grant applications, many of which were ultimately funded by the federal government,” the Resident Commissioner added.

“Notably, the PSM-Moffitt partnership has the potential to help Puerto Rico recruit and retain highly-qualified cancer researchers, of which there is currently a significant shortage on the Island. The partnership has already created jobs in the specialized areas of research and community outreach in southern Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi explained.

Moreover, the U54 grant that NCI has just awarded “will help create about 40 direct jobs in cancer research and clinical oncology in Puerto Rico, as well as many indirect jobs in connection with the establishment of a research enterprise that includes biobanking, clinical trials and basic research investigations,” he said.

The grant will also allow the partnership to continue its successful community outreach efforts, which have established links with cancer patient support groups, thereby ensuring that these efforts are as efficient as possible and that important data on prevention and treatment is collected and disseminated to the public.

Finally, funding will support a medical education and summer research exchange program between PSM and Moffitt, which provides students with the opportunity to participate in Hematology-Oncology fellowships or summer research rotations at either institution.

In addition to the U54 grant, three universities in Puerto Rico received $4.4 million from HHS to provide full or partial scholarships to disadvantaged students studying to become nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals. The University of Turabo (SUAGM) received $2.56, Universidad Metropolitana received $1.3 million, and Carlos Albizu University received $541,000.

Another HHS grant in the amount of $500,000 has been awarded to the “Migrant Health Center, Western Region, Inc,” in Mayagüez, to help the Center improve its substance-abuse program to help individuals overcome drug and alcohol problems.

Finally, a grant in the amount of $100,00 has been awarded by HHS to the Puerto Rico
Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs under a program designed to improve the quality of life for the elderly and their caregivers.

“These grants are of great importance. Because of them, Puerto Rico will be empowered to provide better services to cancer patients, to disadvantaged students who want to become health professionals and work in underserved communities, to the Island’s elderly population and those who care for them, and to individuals with substance abuse problems,” said Pierluisi.