The Cancer Initiative aims to harness existing faculty expertise to create a strategic vision for cancer research at UCF and achieve recognition as a leader in population-level cancer research focusing on cancer health disparities. A major objective of the Cancer Initiative is to establish a Cooperative for Population Health Research in Cancer Disparities (CPHRiCD) within the Academic Health Sciences Center at UCF. The CPHRiCD will serve as a nexus for basic, translational, clinical, and population-level cancer researchers to engage and collaborate in research aimed at reducing disparities in cancer outcomes. Specifically, the CPHRiCD will facilitate greater opportunities to conduct large, innovative, and interdisciplinary cancer research projects. The launching of the Cancer Initiative is timely as UCF now has a cadre of cancer researchers with collective expertise in multidisciplinary aspects of cancer disparity research across the University. In addition, the establishment of the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, in partnership with Sarah Cannon Research Institute, will provide opportunities to conduct clinical research, engage patients in the research process, and increase clinical trial participation for historically underrepresented groups. Given the existing and growing expertise in cancer research at UCF, the Cancer Initiative will play a major strategic role in the Academic Health Sciences Center for years to come.