More than $12.6 million awarded for pediatric oncology research

PASADENA, Calif.–(EMWNews)–The St. Baldrick’s

Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money for

childhood cancer research, announced today the organization’s

first round of 2008 research grants, pediatric oncology fellowships and

career development awards. St. Baldrick’s

began as a challenge between friends, and has exploded into the world’s

largest volunteer-driven fundraising program for childhood cancer

research. Worldwide, 160,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each

year and in the United States, cancer is the leading cause of death by

disease among children.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation coordinates

worldwide head-shaving events, with volunteer “shavees”

raising money to support childhood cancer research. Since 2000,

head-shavings have taken place in 18 countries and 48 U.S. states,

raising more than $48.5 million, and shaving more than 71,000 heads.

In June, grants and fellowship awards totaled more than $12.6 million

and 2008 is the first year that St. Baldrick’s

has awarded the newly-created Career Development Awards. Created to

further the research of promising pediatric oncologists by bridging the

funding-gap between their fellowships and sources of funding available

to more established researchers, the Career Development Awards will

provide much-needed research funding to twelve doctors during this

critical stage of their careers.

All funding applications were evaluated by the foundation’s

Scientific Advisory Committee and other expert reviewers, who made

funding recommendations to the St. Baldrick’s

Foundation’s Board of Directors. Research

grants are awarded for a period of one year, pediatric oncology

fellowships last for two years, with the possibility of being extended

for a third year, while career development awards are of three year’s

duration with a possible two year extension. A second round of grants

for 2008 will be issued this fall.

“These grants were made possible by the

extraordinary efforts of 34,244 St. Baldrick’s

volunteers and more than 217,290 donors who have worked so hard and

given so much to help children with cancer,”

says Kathleen Ruddy, executive director, St. Baldrick’s

Foundation. “The ever-increasing generosity

of our supporters has enabled us to fund more grants and fellowships

while introducing both the Career Development Award and funding the

promising new Translational Genomics in Neuroblastoma research. We hope

these grants lead the way to major developments in how childhood cancer

is diagnosed and treated – giving kids a

longer, higher quality of life. Our ultimate goal is to find cures for

all childhood cancers.”

New St. Baldrick’s fellowships in pediatric

oncology research were awarded at:

• University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

• The University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

• Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Mass.

• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass.

• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md.

• Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit,

  Mich.

• University of Minnesota – Twin Cities,

  Minneapolis, Minn.

• Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo.

• The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, New Hyde Park, N.Y.

• Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital,

  Cleveland, Ohio

• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,

  Philadelphia, Pa.

Continuing St. Baldrick’s fellowships were

funded at:

• Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, Los

  Angeles, Calif.

• University of California, San Francisco, Calif.

• Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New

  York – Presbyterian, New York, N.Y.

  (Columbia University Medical Center)

• Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston Mass.

• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,

  Philadelphia, Pa.

• Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College

  of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Career Development Awards in pediatric oncology research were awarded at:

• Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los

  Angeles, Calif.

• University of California, San Francisco, Calif.

• University of Colorado at Denver, Anschultz Medical Campus, Denver, Co.

• Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass.

• Johns-Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md.

• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

• The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, New Hyde Park, N.Y.

• Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

• Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical

  Center, Seattle, Wash.

• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis.

• Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis.

This year’s research grant recipients are:

• The University of California, San Francisco, Calif.

• University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

• Indiana University, Indianapolis, Ind.

• Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.

• Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, N.Y.

• University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.

• The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, N.Y.

• The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s

  Hospital, Columbus, Ohio

• The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pa.

• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,

  Philadelphia, Pa.

• Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.

• Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.

• University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas

• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Wash.

With a $250,000 grant, the St. Baldrick’s

Foundation becomes the first funder of a major research project called

Translational Genomics in Neuroblastoma (TGiN), with grants awarded to

three partner institutions:

• TGEN Foundation, Phoenix, Ariz.

• National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, Md.

• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,

  Philadelphia, Pa.

Funds raised through St. Baldrick’s events in

other countries in 2007 also went to:

• Childhood Cancer Foundation Candlelighters Canada

• Children’s Cancer Foundation, Hong Kong

• CLIC Sargent, Headington, Oxford, U.K.

The largest St. Baldrick’s Foundation grant

this year of $6,001,389 was awarded to CureSearch Children’s

Oncology Group (COG), for cooperative research on a national scale. Of

this, $5,230,000 will be distributed to over 200 institutions to support

their participation in COG clinical trials. These include M.D. Anderson

Cancer Center, Children’s National Medical

Center, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research and other

well-known institutions, as well as many smaller institutions across the

country where children receive state-of-the-art treatment for cancer.

This past year, participation in the COG’s

clinical trials increased dramatically, partly due to St. Baldrick’s

funding. This has resulted in more children having access to novel

treatments, and it means greater progress into research to find cures

for all childhood cancers.

About The St. Baldrick’s Foundation

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which became a

non-profit organization in late 2004, makes grants to research

organizations that meet stringent criteria and share the foundation’s

commitment to fiscal responsibility and emphasis on research. St.

Baldrick’s research grants help fill crucial

funding gaps at medical institutions where children are treated for

cancer, ensuring the finest care for every child. St. Baldrick’s

fellowships enable some of the most promising new doctors to pursue

pediatric cancer research as a career. For more information about St.

Baldrick’s, please call 1-888-899-BALD or

visit www.StBaldricks.org.

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