USF Health gets $6 million to train nuclear pharmacists as part of a $47.3 million federal cancer-drug push
The funding backs FORGE, a Moffitt-led coalition aiming to make Tampa Bay a center for radiopharmaceuticals, which projects about 4,000 regional jobs.
TAMPA - The University of South Florida will receive $6 million to train nuclear pharmacists, part of a $47.3 million federal investment meant to make Tampa Bay a national center for radiopharmaceuticals, according to an Oct. 29 release from USF Health.
USF says the U.S. Economic Development Administration announced the funding for the Florida Oncology and Radiopharmaceutical Growth Engine, or FORGE, a coalition of cancer care, university, college and startup partners. Moffitt Cancer Center and Speros, Moffitt's 775-acre life sciences campus in Pasco County, lead the coalition; Embarc Collective and Pasco-Hernando State College are also partners.
USF's share will pay for a new nuclear pharmacy training program in the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy. Nuclear pharmacists prepare and dispense radiopharmaceuticals, drugs that pair radioactive material with compounds aimed at specific cancer cells. Many are used in theranostics, which combines imaging and targeted treatment to find tumors and deliver radiation directly to them.
Nick Carris, PharmD, and Jay Wolfson, DrPH, JD, are co-principal investigators, with Carris leading the program for USF. FORGE partners expect the training to lead graduates into specialized, high-paying radiopharmacy jobs in the region, the release says.
Our new nuclear pharmacy training program will educate the talent needed for these highly specialized careers. — USF President Moez Limayem
Josh Carpenter, president of Speros and Moffitt's chief integration officer, said much of the supply of isotopes used to make these treatments still comes from outside the United States. Building on Moffitt's existing investment at Speros, the coalition projects its work will support about 4,000 jobs across Tampa Bay once fully operational. That figure is the coalition's projection, not a count.
Source: USF Health News release, Oct. 29, 2026. The federal award is as described by USF; the Economic Development Administration's own announcement was not reviewed for this story.