Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Moffitt director William S. Dalton said today that the cancer and research institute is well-poised to bring hundreds of much-needed construction and health care jobs to the Tampa Bay area from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday.

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act provides $1 billion for grants to construct, renovate or repair existing research facilities. Moffitt fits that description.

As an example of how the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act can act through an economic engine like the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, the M2Gen project would bring 300 jobs to the Tampa Bay area: 200 in construction and 100 in research. The average salary for the construction jobs is estimated at $50,000. The average salary for the research jobs is estimated at more than $70,000. Further expansion projects at Moffitt have the potential to create 3,000 construction jobs and 1,200 new, permanent jobs in the health and biotech sectors.

“As President Obama has said, the intent of the recovery act is job, jobs, jobs. Our community will begin working again in the short term with the construction jobs and thrive in the long run with these high-wage health industry jobs,” Castor said. “This project at Moffitt is an example of how we will be able to jump-start employment with construction jobs to complete the remaining floors and add entire research teams at high wages once the construction in completed.”

The M2Gen building is the first structure on Moffitt’s McKinley Research Park and will serve as the headquarters for Moffitt’s nationwide cancer genetic profiling effort. M2Gen is a public-private partnership between Merck & Company, Hillsborough County, the state and the city of Tampa.

The bottom two floors of the building are nearing completion but the top two will remain unoccupied until funding is secured. Castor said Moffitt is well-poised to apply to the National Institutes of Health to access funding for this project. The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act provides $1 billion for grants to construct, renovate or repair existing research facilities.

That will translate into jobs for the community. The Tampa Bay area is well-situated to bring in money to spur short-term job creation and long-term economic growth. The area is also well poised to draw down funding for vital healthcare research.

“We are reinvesting in the future in science and technology,” Castor said. “The high-wage jobs will sustain this community for years to come.”

“We believe Moffitt will have numerous opportunities to secure funding through the federal stimulus package,” said Dalton, chief executive and Center director of Moffitt Cancer Center. “Funding that will benefit cancer patients today and into the future as well as bring jobs to the area.”

Thanks in large part to the economic engines of Moffitt and the University of South Florida, the area is well positioned to draw down funding for vital healthcare research. In recent years, for example, the university has received about $124 million in national research funding in recent years. Highlights include:

·       $1,164,100 - Department of Global Health (2007)

·       $56,758,469 - Department of Pediatrics (2007)

·       $48,544,835 - Department of Pediatrics (2008)

·       $ 2,119,080 - Center for Aging - Neuroscience (2007)

·       $1,219,942 - Department of Psychology (2007)