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MIAMI (Feb. 28, 2025) – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced $2 million in funding from the Casey DeSantis Florida Cancer Innovation Fund, to increase patients’ access to FIU cancer researcher Diana Azzam’s innovative functional precision medicine treatment approach.
Azzam, a researcher in the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, developed a functional precision medicine approach that targets cancer by combining genetic testing with testing of individual drugs on tumor samples. The results of this innovative method are used by oncologists to guide treatment. According to the results of a clinical study published last year in Nature Medicine, 83% of patients treated with Azzam’s method showed improvement. Azzam is currently carrying out personalized cancer treatment clinical trials for both children and adults.
The $2 million grant to First Ascent Biomedical, the company that Azzam co-founded to bring this technology to market, is part of a larger commitment to cancer research announced on Friday.
The funding will generate critical clinical data to support Food and Drug Administration approval of highly individualized treatment planning technologies that integrate Azzam’s functional precision medicine platform with artificial intelligence to accelerate insurance coverage and nationwide adoption.
“Dr. Azzam’s group is demonstrating that functional precision medicine is the future of health care,” said FIU Interim President Jeanette Nuñez. “Today’s investment, announced by Governor Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis, will accelerate the process to make this technology available to cancer patients who need it the most.”
Approximately 2 million people are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Nearly 30 percent (more than 600,000) are expected to die.
Friday’s announcement adds to state funding Azzam’s lab has received for her research, including a $2 million appropriation from the State of Florida in 2022 and, prior to that, $700,000 from the Florida Department of Health through the Live Like Bella Pediatric Cancer Research Initiative.
“The private-public partnership between FIU and First Ascent is a powerful testament to how the state of Florida is catalyzing innovations that have potential for saving lives,” Azzam said.
For more information about Azzam’s research and clinical trials, please click here.
For photos and videos related to Friday’s announcement, please click here.
