Expanding Patient Care Through Moffitt at SouthShore

Claribel Michel describes her job as being like an octopus.

As a research coordinator for clinical trials, she is busy floating across clinics, screening patients, signing them up for potentially breakthrough treatments, documenting how they are progressing and following up with them even after their treatment is complete. Behind the scenes, she and her fellow research coordinators are checking in with the patients’ care teams, reporting data back to the principal investigators and training on the next generation of clinical trials coming down the pipeline.

Claribel Michel is one of about 150 Moffitt team members who brought the cancer center’s culture of caring to its new SouthShore campus.

“I say that we’re like the octopus because we have so many hands. We’re just everywhere,” said Michel, who has been working at Moffitt Cancer Center since 2016. “I love the role, love what I do, love the patients and love the mission.”

In January 2025, Michel was one of about 150 team members who brought this culture of caring to Moffitt at SouthShore, the cancer center’s newest outpatient facility in Ruskin. Conveniently located off Interstate 75 in southern Hillsborough County, Moffitt at SouthShore opened its doors to patients on Jan. 27, 2025, and is expected to treat 9,000 patients in its first five years.

The outpatient facility is the latest milestone in Moffitt’s expanding footprint, as the cancer center strives to reach as many patients as possible. In addition to the original Magnolia campus and the nearby McKinley Outpatient Center, Moffitt opened outpatient facilities at International Plaza in 2011 and in Wesley Chapel in 2021. In 2023, Moffitt McKinley Hospital opened its doors to handle increased surgical and cell therapy demands, and in 2026, the cancer center’s outpatient facility at its new Speros campus in Pasco County will begin welcoming patients.

“Ultimately, we are trying to bring the medicines closer to the patients, so we can save more lives,” said Patrick Hwu, MD, president and CEO. “Patients who may not have been able to come to Moffitt in the past now have the opportunity to get world-class treatments within their own communities.”

Following the Need

Moffitt’s decision to open a campus in Ruskin was based on research into patient volumes. The cancer center serves a 23-county catchment area, from where it draws a majority of patients. Research showed that a large number of patients were coming to Moffitt from the south, driving from areas such as Sun City Center, Bradenton, Fort Myers and even Miami. The Ruskin location offers these patients an easy stop off I-75.

Moffitt at SouthShore provides patients with many of the same services as the other campuses and treats all cancer diagnoses outside of surgical procedures.

Moffitt at SouthShore provides patients with many of the same services as the other campuses and treats all cancer diagnoses outside of surgical procedures. It is staffed with medical oncologists who have experience treating a wide range of cancer types, with additional radiation and surgical oncology specialists available to consult with patients in person or via virtual visits.

With 75,000 square feet of space, the outpatient facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology throughout the building and is home to 18 clinical exam rooms and a full radiology suite offering MRIs, CTs, ultrasounds, mammograms and PET scans. The campus offers cancer screenings, diagnostic imaging, blood draw, clinical labs, radiation therapy and infusion services.

“Moffitt at SouthShore has both advanced diagnostic technologies as well as treatment capabilities,” said Vania Phuoc, MD, medical director at Moffitt at SouthShore. “Patients are able to receive the latest in chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapies. They can get radiation treatments for all cancer types at this site with modern techniques.”

Pushing for the Best Outcomes

Perhaps the most groundbreaking part of the expansion into south Hillsborough County is the new campus’ ability to offer clinical trials to patients farther out in the community. Clinical trials can provide both the best outcomes and a new hope for patients who have exhausted standard of care options.

Following in the footsteps of Moffitt’s other outpatient facilities, the SouthShore campus was designed to expand access to these trials to more members of the community. All providers at Moffitt at SouthShore are certified to treat patients on clinical trials. The nurses are dually trained to administer both standard of care as well as clinical trial treatments. The pharmacy within the facility is designed to support the clinical trial treatments offered on-site. And clinical trial coordinators like Michel work on-site to screen, enroll and check in with patients.

In its first year, Moffitt at SouthShore is expected to open six to 10 clinical trials and is projected to have approximately 24 clinical trials by summer 2026. Trials at the location will focus on treatment options for the most common cancer types seen such as breast, gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancers among others. The facility also expects to offer nontherapeutic trials and health outcomes and behavior studies down the line.

We’ve really taken on the strategy of seeing where the highest needs and demands are based on the community and the patient populations that we’re seeing. We want to be able to provide clinical trials that will have the greatest impact.

Vania Phuoc, MD

“We’ve really taken on the strategy of seeing where the highest needs and demands are based on the community and the patient populations that we’re seeing,” Phuoc explained. “We want to be able to provide clinical trials that will have the greatest impact on the largest number of patients.”

Trials offered in Moffitt’s outpatient facilities are deemed appropriate for expanded community access based on their lower risk of side effects and ease of administration, such as oral therapies or novel combinations and uses of more known treatments, Phuoc says. More complex cellular therapies and therapeutics that are in the early stages and require closer monitoring continue to be administered at Moffitt’s Magnolia campus and McKinley Outpatient Center.

No matter where the trial is offered, though, the goal is the same: saving more lives.

“We are focused on making sure we’re reviewing every single patient we can to see if they’re a candidate for a clinical trial, either one that’s available at SouthShore or at any site across the institution,” Phuoc said. “We want to increase clinical trial access and enrollment as much as we can for our patients and also be a part of driving major breakthroughs in cancer treatment.”

Care Closer to Home

Within the first six months of opening, Moffitt at SouthShore had far surpassed projections for the number of patients treated. Phuoc noted that some existing patients had transitioned their care to the Ruskin campus to reduce their travel time, and many new patients were coming from as far south as Miami to gain access to Moffitt’s experts.

“We’ve been really excited to see the tremendous growth at this site,” she said. “We’ve received great feedback from both patients and staff alike about Moffitt opening in the Ruskin area, which brought job opportunities and clinical care closer to home for a lot of people. That has been really gratifying to see.”

For Michel, working at Moffitt has fulfilled a need in her to help others and give back to her community. She spent nine years working at the cancer center’s Magnolia campus before transitioning to Moffitt at SouthShore.

“I live out here in the Ruskin area. So it’s an exciting time because I’ve seen Moffitt grow in the time that I’ve been here,” she explained. “To know that I can bring that care and love that I have for the job that I do here, closer to home, and to see the patients nearby, that’s even more rewarding.”