DeSantis and first lady tout $30 million funding for pediatric cancer initiative
By Mike Mendenhall - Jax Today / WJCT
July 24, 2025 at 10:52 AM EDT
The DeSantises were in Jacksonville to discuss funding for the Cancer Connect Collaborative approved in Florida’s 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis touted funding to expand and accelerate pediatric cancer research and new treatments during a stop Wednesday at Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville.
Meeting with state and local elected officials and hospital executives, the governor and his wife announced $30 million in funding for the Cancer Connect Collaborative approved in Florida’s 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
At a news conference at Wolfson, DeSantis said the collaborative will use the dollars to focus on pediatric cancer outcomes over the next five years, bolstering a partnership between Wolfson, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami and Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando.
The collaborative hopes to make the pediatric cancer hospitals eligible for multiyear grants to expand clinical trials, improve treatment protocols and “advance real-world cures,” DeSantis said.
In total, this year’s state budget appropriates $265.4 million toward cancer research programs and organizations including $127.5 million for the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program to fund competitive grants and $60 million for the Florida Cancer Innovation Fund to further bolster cancer research and care.
The governor said the investment would make Florida a national target for investment into cancer research.
“And this program has served as the backbone of the state’s innovation efforts. We don’t want to just support isolated projects. We want to build an integrated statewide approach that drives long-term progress,” DeSantis said.
Officials expect the program to also boost enrollment in those trails and allow pediatric hospitals and community clinics to pool resources to expand education for family and health care providers, said Shevaun Harris, secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
Michael Mayo, president and CEO of Jacksonville’s Baptist Health, said he expects the initiatives to attract “the world’s top talent” to practice pediatric cancer medicine in Florida.
Casey DeSantis, who led efforts to establish the collaborative, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and declared cancer free in March 2022.
“We’re at war with cancer. We don’t want to wait for a fiscal year to end to then do all these grants. Let’s go,” she said. “If somebody knows that they have a good idea and they want to put gas on that brush fire to try make an impact, you should get that funding quickly.”
Meeting with state and local elected officials and hospital executives, the governor and his wife announced $30 million in funding for the Cancer Connect Collaborative approved in Florida’s 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
At a news conference at Wolfson, DeSantis said the collaborative will use the dollars to focus on pediatric cancer outcomes over the next five years, bolstering a partnership between Wolfson, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami and Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando.
The collaborative hopes to make the pediatric cancer hospitals eligible for multiyear grants to expand clinical trials, improve treatment protocols and “advance real-world cures,” DeSantis said.
In total, this year’s state budget appropriates $265.4 million toward cancer research programs and organizations including $127.5 million for the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program to fund competitive grants and $60 million for the Florida Cancer Innovation Fund to further bolster cancer research and care.
The governor said the investment would make Florida a national target for investment into cancer research.
“And this program has served as the backbone of the state’s innovation efforts. We don’t want to just support isolated projects. We want to build an integrated statewide approach that drives long-term progress,” DeSantis said.
Officials expect the program to also boost enrollment in those trails and allow pediatric hospitals and community clinics to pool resources to expand education for family and health care providers, said Shevaun Harris, secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
Michael Mayo, president and CEO of Jacksonville’s Baptist Health, said he expects the initiatives to attract “the world’s top talent” to practice pediatric cancer medicine in Florida.
Casey DeSantis, who led efforts to establish the collaborative, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and declared cancer free in March 2022.
“We’re at war with cancer. We don’t want to wait for a fiscal year to end to then do all these grants. Let’s go,” she said. “If somebody knows that they have a good idea and they want to put gas on that brush fire to try make an impact, you should get that funding quickly.”