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Courtney has always been a planner, even as a child. Growing up in Gainesville, she produced pretend weddings for her sister and neighborhood friends, ensuring every detail was perfect. In high school, she was elected junior class social committee president and expanded the number of dances their class held from just one to four.
Every day, patients buzz in and out of the clinic on the first floor of Moffitt Cancer Center’s Magnolia campus. They are picking up medications to ensure their T cell counts are high enough to continue receiving infusion and compatible with their ongoing cancer treatments. These patients are part of a special population. Many have already faced a battle for their lives against one disease. Then, they were diagnosed with cancer.
Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR T, has been a huge breakthrough for certain types of blood cancers. First approved in 2017, the therapy uses a patient’s own immune cells, which are removed and sent to a lab where they are genetically engineered, adding a receptor to help them better seek out cancer cells. Once infused back into the patient, the CAR T cells can easily find and attack the tumors.
At Moffitt Cancer Center, the mission is simple: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. Many read that statement and focus on cure — the research to discover new lifesaving treatments. But prevention is also heavily steeped in Moffitt’s core, and the cancer center has embraced the growing field of cancer prevention research.
Moffitt Cancer Center is leading a five-year research project taking a closer look at the mechanisms behind uveal melanoma, a rare type of eye cancer, including why the disease often spreads to the liver and ways to treat it. The project is in collaboration with the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami and the University of Florida Health Cancer Center.
