St. Baldrick's Foundation Announces $2 Million in Childhood Cancer Research Grants

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The St. Baldrick's Foundation, a volunteer-powered charity dedicated to raising money for children's cancer research and funding the most promising research initiatives, is proud to announce the 2015 St. Baldrick's Infrastructure Grants, totaling $2 million awarded to 33 institutions across the United States.

This series of grants, combined with the more than $21.2 million awarded in July, brings the St. Baldrick's Foundation's funding total to $23 million awarded in 2015. These infrastructure grants provide resources to institutions enabling them to conduct more research and enroll more children in ongoing clinical trials.

After Hurricane Katrina, healthcare in the New Orleans region was significantly decimated and the Ochsner Medical Center found itself with only one pediatric oncologist. Today, the clinic has four pediatric oncologists and is working to build an Adolescents and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer and Survivorship Program to overcome the lack of communication that exists between adult and pediatric providers. St. Baldrick's funds will support the role of a nurse coordinator and clinical research associate which will allow more AYA patients to have access to this trial. The program is the first of its kind in the greater New Orleans area.   

"The St. Baldrick's Foundation is excited to fund this latest round of grants, which will give much needed support to multiple pediatric cancer treatment teams across the U.S.," said Kathleen Ruddy, chief executive officer of St. Baldrick's. "These grants will improve the capacity of the institutions to do more research, enroll more children in cutting-edge clinical trials, and complete studies that are in progress. These grants would not be possible without our dedicated volunteers and generous donors who believe that kids deserve better than the toxic medicines that are currently available which all too often harm developing bodies and create lifelong, life-threatening health problems."

Infrastructure grants are awarded based on the need of the institution and its patients, anticipated results of the grant and local participation in St. Baldrick's fundraising events and activities.

St. Baldrick's infrastructure grants were distributed to the following institutions:

• Albany Medical Center, Albany, N.Y.
• UNM Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, N.M.
• Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pa.
• Providence Alaska Medical Center, Anchorage, Alaska
• Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, Austin, Texas
• Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
• The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
• Blank Children's Hospital, an affiliate of UnityPoint Health, Des Moines, Iowa
• Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.
• Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas
• Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, N.J.
• University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• Alliance for Childhood Diseases, Las Vegas, Nev.
• Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, Calif.
• Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif.
• University of Louisville Research Foundation, Louisville, Ky.
• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas
• Valley Children's Healthcare, Madera, Calif.
• Vannie E. Cook, Jr. Children's Cancer and Hematology Clinic, McAllen, Texas
• Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis.
• University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.
• Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, N.J.
• Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, La.
• Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Norfolk, Va.
• Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland, Oakland, Calif.
• OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, Ore.
• Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.
• Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, Ga.
• Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, St. Louis, Mo.
• Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, N.C.

To learn how you can get involved visit www.StBaldricks.org, and connect with St. Baldrick's on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo.

About St. Baldrick's Foundation
The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-powered charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. Since 2005, St. Baldrick's has awarded more than $178 million to support lifesaving research, making the Foundation the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants. For more information about the St. Baldrick's Foundation please call 1.888.899.BALD or visit www.StBaldricks.org.

SOURCE St. Baldricks Foundation

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