The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas released more funding on Aug. 16, and several Houston-area universities and researchers were among the recipients.
The two largest allotments went to Baylor College of Medicine, which received $6 million over three separate grants, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which received just under $4.9 million over four grants.
All three of Baylor's $2 million grants will allow the university to hire a first-time, tenure-track faculty member through the CPRIT Scholar program. MD Anderson also received a $2 million CPRIT Scholar grant. Houston Inno reached out for further comment on what departments the institutions planned to hire for but did not receive a comment before press time.
MD Anderson's other grants will allow the cancer center to expand physical activity programs for survivors and expand tobacco cessation programs. CPRIT has granted MD Anderson $593 million in funding since the institute’s inception, according to the center.
Nearly $2.5 million will go toward MD Anderson’s Active Living After Cancer program, which is a free program offered in English and Spanish intended to improve the quality of life for cancer survivors by promoting increased physical activity. Dr. Karen Basen-Engquist, a professor of health disparities research and director of MD Anderson’s Center for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship, said most beneficiaries of the program lived in medically underserved areas.
CPRIT awarded a $449,776 grant to Dr. Lorraine Reitzel and Dr. Maggie Britton to support implementing the Taking Texas Tobacco-Free, which is a tobacco control and relapse intervention program that will be provided in opioid-use treatment centers. Reitzel also received a $448,835 grant on behalf of the University of Houston to support a similar initiative targeted at LGBTQ+ patients.
Meanwhile, the University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston received a $2.5 million grant to continue and expand a vaccination program against postpartum HPV.
CPRIT was founded in 2010 and has awarded over $3.3 billion to date to organizations and researchers, with MD Anderson receiving nearly 20% of that figure. Grants have been used to bring companies such as Aravive Biologics and Salarius Pharmaceuticals to Texas.
Grant money has also been used to kickstart accelerator programs, such as the Texas Medical Center’s Accelerating Cancer Therapeutics. The nine-month program has named two cohorts to date, with the most recent selected in January 2023.
Other recipients include the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, which landed a $4 million grant in 2021 to create the UTHealth-CPRIT Innovation in Cancer Prevention Research Training Program. The program, which is running through May 2026, is intended to produce skilled cancer researchers by teaching career skills, team science and interdisciplinary communication skills.
MD Anderson recently announced its intent to build a cancer care center in Austin, as part of a $2.5 billion partnership with UT Austin to create the University of Texas at Austin Medical Center in downtown Austin. The expansion continues the center’s spread in Texas and across the nation, through partnerships with hospitals and health systems including in Greater Phoenix; northern Colorado; Jacksonville, Florida; Indianapolis; Camden, New Jersey; Southeastern Louisiana; La Jolla, California; and San Antonio.
Meanwhile in Houston, MD Anderson will share 24,000 square feet of space in the upcoming first phase of TMC Helix Park with fellow TMC member institutions Texas A&M University and UT Health Houston.
UTMB Galveston is ranked No. 5 on the Houston Business Journal's 2022 Largest Houston-Area Health Care Systems List, with 998 local licensed beds, and MD Anderson is No. 7 with 743.
