Puerto Rican government offers support for country's cancer center.

Greatly expanding its commitment to cancer research and treatment, the government of Puerto Rico recently earmarked $40 million over the next 5 years for its cancer research infrastructure and another $75 million to build a new cancer research hospital. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is in the process of approving the funding for what will be the Caribbean’s first comprehensive cancer center, to be part of the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. “The new center will have a major impact in the care of cancer patients in the Caribbean basin and Central and South America,” said Reynold Lopez-Enriquez, M.D., a surgical oncologist at the University of Puerto Rico. Cancer care at the Caribbean island’s academic medical centers and public and private hospitals is neither centralized nor coordinated, and few clinical trials are available to patients, said Emma Fernandez-Repollet, M.D., interim vice president of research and technology at the University of Puerto Rico. In addition, although there are a handful of medical schools on the island of about 4.1 million people, educating physicians in clinical research has not been strong historically, Fernandez-Repollet said. One consequence is that about 60% of the island’s medical students who wish to pursue Puerto Rican Government Offers Support for Country’s Cancer Center