National Childhood Cancer Organization Announces Annual Funding

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Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research

May 18, 2011, 09:45 ET

Rally Foundation Distributes $700,000 To Support Cancer Research

ATLANTA, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rally Foundation, a national non-profit organization committed to research to fight childhood cancer, has announced its annual funding allocation for 2011 and has selected 15 hospitals across the country to receive more than $700,000.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110518/DC04421)

The funds distributed by Rally Foundation come from corporate contributions, individual donations, as well as local fundraising events, often organized by communities with families impacted by childhood cancer. Rally Foundation and its medical advisory board, which includes childhood cancer researchers from across the country, evaluate funding proposals annually to determine which projects to fund. The Rally Foundation is recognized by the Local Independent Charities of America as a leader in efficiency among non-profits and has established a competitive peer review process for determining its annual funding allocations.

Since its founding in 2005, the Rally Foundation has distributed more than $2.2 million to more than 50 projects nationwide to support childhood cancer research, including basic science, fellowships and clinical trials.

Unknown to many are the facts that children are afflicted by different cancers than adults, that childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of children ages 0-15 in the United States, and that childhood cancer research is severely underfunded each year.

"Communities across the country have joined Rally," said Dean Crowe, Founder and CEO of Rally. "It is our hope that, one day soon, new and more effective research will eliminate all childhood cancer."

Highlights of Rally's 2011 grants include:

Baylor University – Waco, Texas, oncogene and therapeutic target in Medulloblastoma
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta – Atlanta, for the Carter Martin Experimental Research Fund
Children's Memorial – Chicago, for malignant Rhabdoid Tumors
Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital - Cleveland, for low-grade Gliomas
Columbia University Medical Center – New York, for T-ALL
Emory University – Atlanta, metabolic reprogramming for pediatric AML therapy
Medical University of South Carolina - Charleston, S.C. for Neuroblastoma
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – New York, characterization of Burkitt Lymphoma
Northwestern University – Chicago, targeted therapy for Down's Syndrome and ALL
Pediatric Cancer Foundation - Tampa, Fla., for relapsed ALL trial
Seattle Children's Hospital- Seattle, early phase trials and biologic specimen collection
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Memphis, Tenn., late effects study
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia – Philadelphia, for Neuroblastoma
The Regents of the University of California – San Francisco, for high-grade pediatric Gliomas
The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, N.C., survivorship hotline
Vanderbilt University Medical Center – Nashville, Tenn., for treatment of Neuroblastoma

"Rally's grants were instrumental in our lab gathering key data to validate our successful 2011 application for NIH funding, which was in the top two percent of projects funded," said Dr. Ferrando, a Rally-funded researcher at Columbia University. "We are very grateful for Rally providing critical grants for our innovative research that will lead to more breakthroughs in successfully treating childhood cancers."

About Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research

Rally Foundation, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Atlanta, empowers volunteers across the country to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer research to find better treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cures. Cancer is the number one disease killer of children, and its research is severely underfunded each year. For more information on Rally, visit RallyFoundation.org.

Media Contact:
Lauren Flanary
(w) 404-847-9176
[email protected]

SOURCE Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research