Implementing personalized medicine in a cancer center.

In 2006, the Moffitt Cancer Center partnered with patients, community clinicians, industry, academia, and 17 hospitals in the United States to begin a personalized cancer care initiative called Total Cancer Care. Total Cancer Care was designed to collect tumor specimens and clinical data throughout a patient's lifetime, with the goal of finding "the right treatment, for the right patient, at the right time." Because Total Cancer Care is a partnership with the patient and involves collection of clinical data and tumor specimens for research purposes, a formal protocol and patient consent process was developed, and an information technology platform was constructed to provide a robust "warehouse" for clinical and molecular profiling data. To date, more than 76,000 cancer patients from Moffitt and consortium medical centers have been enrolled in the protocol. The Total Cancer Care initiative has developed many of the capabilities and resources that are building the foundation of personalized medicine.