TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Florida awarded $30 million in grant funding to four specialty children’s hospitals on Monday to develop and improve access to clinical trials, advance treatment protocols and discover cures for childhood cancer.
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, and Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville were each awarded $7.5 million through the new Cancer Connect Collaborative Research Incubator.
The funding targets four of Florida’s top children’s hospitals for their proposals to help children and adolescents fighting cancer. The state aims to eliminate the need for Florida families to travel out of state for potentially life-saving experimental therapies and specialized care.
While pediatric cancer accounts for just one percent of cases nationally, Florida’s pediatric cancer population is significant. The state accounts for six percent of all new pediatric cancer cases in the U.S., impacting thousands of children and families every year.
“If there’s a really well-thought-out proposal that’s seeking to do innovative things. We want to provide support for that through this incubator program,” DeSantis said.
The Cancer Connect Collaborative Research Incubator was created in 2025 to further Florida’s efforts as a leader in cancer research and treatment. The incubator is funded with $30 million and will focus on pediatric cancer in its first five-year funding cycle.
Under state law, the incubator will focus on different types of cancer every five years.
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