St. Baldrick's Foundation Awards Over $1.8 Million in Grants to Fund the Next Generation of Pediatric Oncologists

News provided by

Apr 17, 2020, 11:30 ET

LOS ANGELES, April 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The St. Baldrick's Foundation, the largest non-government funder of childhood cancer research grants, has awarded 12 Fellows and 18 Summer Fellows totaling more than $1.8 million to institutions across the country. These grants are made possible by the fundraising efforts of St. Baldrick's volunteers, shavees, donors, and advocates in 2019.

St. Baldrick's dedication to provide funding to support the most promising research and to train early career scientists has not wavered, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2005, the St. Baldrick's Foundation has put a high priority on building the pipeline of pediatric researchers by supporting the next generation of childhood cancer research experts whose work may lead to new and innovative therapies for kids with cancer.

"Back in 2005, the field was preparing for a shortage of pediatric oncology researchers, meaning there would soon be insufficient numbers of experts working toward cures for kids," said Kathleen Ruddy, St. Baldrick's Foundation CEO. "To avoid this, St. Baldrick's created specific grant categories to support the training and early career research physician-scientists need to make meaningful discoveries throughout their careers. Today, we need to remember that pediatric cancer is not taking a break and that kids with cancer need us more than ever. We encourage people to get involved virtually, fundraise online or visit our website to make a donation so that we can fund our largest annual group of life-saving research grants of the year in June."

To date, St. Baldrick's has supported 233 students through St. Baldrick's Summer Fellow grants and funded 198 St. Baldrick's Fellows, many of who have gone on to become recognized as leaders in their field.

St. Baldrick's Fellow grants provide two to three years of research funding to young doctors training to become pediatric oncology researchers. This grant provides them with protected time in the lab to learn new skills and gives them a launch pad to even bigger research opportunities and, hopefully, a career as an independent researcher with their own lab, spending a lifetime finding better ways to treat childhood cancer.

St. Baldrick's Summer Fellow grants give college and medical students the chance to spend their summer working in childhood cancer research labs under the mentorship of experts in the field – an experience that will not only result in valuable new research but could also turn them into the next childhood cancer research trailblazers.

The following institutions are receiving a St. Baldrick's Fellow grant:

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass.
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn.
University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.

The following institutions are receiving a St. Baldrick's Summer Fellow grant:

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute, Beaverton, Ore.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa.
Creighton University, Omaha, Neb.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Wash.
Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC
New York University School of Medicine, New York, N.Y.
Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pa.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tenn.
University of California Davis, Davis, Calif.
University of California San Diego, La Jolla, Calif.
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colo.
University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, Hawaii
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Burlington, Vt.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Since 2005, St. Baldrick's has granted more than $286 million to support the development of childhood cancer treatments that have the potential to impact every kid diagnosed with cancer. This series of grants is the first of several that will be awarded by the Foundation this year. The next round of funding will be announced in July.

St. Baldrick's will continue to fund the best childhood cancer research so that kids can live longer and healthier lives, no matter what's going on in the world. Join St. Baldrick's in helping kids defy the odds of childhood cancer through fundraisers, donations, and advocacy. Connect with St. Baldrick's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About St. Baldrick's Foundation
Every 2 minutes a child somewhere in the world is diagnosed with cancer. The St. Baldrick's Foundation, the largest private funder of pediatric cancer research grants, is on a mission to defy childhood cancers by supporting the most promising research to find cures and better treatments for all childhood cancers. When you give to St. Baldrick's, you don't just give to one institution–you give to virtually every institution treating kids with cancer across the U.S. and beyond. As a leader in the pediatric cancer community, St. Baldrick's works tirelessly to ensure that current and future children diagnosed with cancer will have access to the most cutting-edge treatment from the best leaders in the pediatric oncology field. Join us at StBaldricks.org and help #DFYchildhoodCancers.

SOURCE St. Baldrick's Foundation