Month: February 2026

Even though it’s located at least 20 miles from any part of New Tampa, perhaps the biggest news story in Pasco County for 2026 is the opening of the sprawling new 775-acre Speros FL campus of the Moffitt Cancer Center — the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Florida — located on Wilton Way in Land O’Lakes. 

The first building to open in this amazing innovation hub, where science, technology and patient care will converge in the fight against cancer, is the 120,000-sq.-ft. Moffitt Speros Outpatient Center, which was introduced to an invited crowd on Jan. 9 with a huge event attended by an estimated 500 people, including Florida Secretary of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, State Senator Danny Burgess, State Rep. Kevin Steele, all five Pasco County Commissioners and 84-year-old former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives H. Lee Moffitt, the man who founded the nonprofit cancer center named for him. 

The event included the following speakers: 

• Dr. Patrick Hwu, the president & CEO of Moffitt, who noted that 2026 is the cancer center’s 40th anniversary year. Dr. Hwu also played the keyboards in the Speros band following the ribbon-cutting ceremony. He also noted that the next building to open in the Speros campus will be the Richard M. Schulze Proton Center, which will open in just a few months and will be home to one of only three proton radiation machines in Florida. That opening will be followed by the opening of the 100,000-sq.-ft. research center. Dr. Hwu also noted that the first patients will begin being treated at the outpatient center, “within a few weeks.” 

• Dr. Josh Carpenter, the president of Speros who also is the VP & chief integration officer of Moffitt and who noted that Speros means “hope.” Dr. Carpenter thanked everyone who played a part — and those still playing a part — in the construction and opening of the many buildings coming to the Speros campus. 

• Speros Board chair Marty Lanahan, the executive VP of First Horizon Bank, who introduced Moffitt Cancer Center’s Institute Board chair Tim Adams. Adams said that Lee Moffitt charged him with the task to cure cancer and sent him to Tallahassee in 2005 to talk to Simpson, who was then a State Senator who was going to be the president of the Florida Senate within three years. “Wilton told me that he’s had his eye on Moffitt for a long time,” Adams said, “but if we really want to cure cancer, you’re going to have to start thinking a lot bigger than a 20-acre campus in Tampa.” 

• Commissioner Simpson, who said he knew Pasco had the land to “do something like this and that people could fly into Tampa International from all over the world and be here in 30 minutes to get treatment. I’m very proud of the tens of thousands of lives, starting now, that we’re going to be saving on an annual basis. How many grandparents will now get to see their grandchildren get older? How many children are going to be cured? How many moms and dads will see their kids get married because of the work that Moffitt will be doing on this site?” 

• H. Lee Moffitt himself, who said, “What a day! The reason we’re here is because of the hard work of every single person in this audience and I can not thank you enough for your dedication, zeal and vision to help us get to where we are today. I would like to thank and applaud the efforts of all of our friends that have worked for us since I started the cancer center 40 years ago and embraced our mission and contributed to the prevention and cure of cancer. By golly, we are making a difference and I appreciate all of your efforts in this quest!” 

• The final speaker was Debra Schulze, speaking on behalf of her father Richard M. “Dick” Schulze, the founder of Best Buy Co., the largest electronics store in the U.S. Dick Schulze was unable to attend the event himself, but his family’s foundation supported the Speros Center with a $15-million investment in the campus’ Proton Therapy Center, “which is more than just advanced technology,” Debra Schulze said. “It is a place where skilled clinicians, dedicated researchers and hope-filled patients will come together in the pursuit of healing and progress. On behalf of my father, our family, and our foundation, thank you to the Moffitt leadership and staff. We are proud to stand alongside you and share in the excitement and the impact that this Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Proton Therapy System Center will have on the future of cancer care.” 

For more information about Moffitt’s Speros Outpatient Clinic and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Proton Center (16370 Wilton Way, Land O’Lakes), visit Moffitt.org.