St. Baldrick's Foundation Announces $17.5 Million in Grants to Fund Lifesaving Childhood Cancer Research

News provided by

Jul 23, 2019, 09:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, July 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The St. Baldrick's Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, is proud to award 55 grants totaling $17.5 million to support physician-scientists studying innovative treatment options in the pediatric cancer space. This is the largest of several annual funding cycles, including 5 grant types.

In the United States, one in five kids diagnosed with cancer will not survive and out of those who do survive, by the age of 50, more than 99 percent experience chronic health problems. Of today's survivors, 96 percent have had a severe or life-threatening condition by the age of 50.

With these newly awarded grants, funded by St. Baldrick's volunteers and generous donors, childhood cancer researchers can now work to get projects off the ground, moving novel treatment approaches to the next phase of testing more efficiently. Ultimately, these grants will provide better therapies and reveal potential new treatments and cures for kids with cancer.

"I'm humbled by the hard work of St. Baldrick's volunteers and the generosity of our donors," said Kathleen Ruddy, CEO of the St. Baldrick's Foundation. "Their unified efforts, together with those of the childhood cancer research community and our employees, enable us to identify research proposals with the greatest potential to improve the chance of survival and the long-term lives of children fighting cancer. As no single research institution has a monopoly on talent or innovation, our supporters make the best research possible, wherever the ideas are, and because of them, St. Baldrick's continues to lead the charge to take childhood back from cancer."

Since 2005, St. Baldrick's has granted over $279 million to support the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors longer, healthier lives.

The following institutions were awarded new grants:

Alabama

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala.

California

Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
City of Hope, Duarte, Calif.
University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.
University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif.

Connecticut

University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn.

Florida

University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

Georgia

Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.

Illinois

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
The University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, Ill.

Kentucky

University of Kentucky Research Foundation

Maryland

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore

Massachusetts

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Mass.
Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Michigan

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Minnesota

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minn.

Missouri

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

New York

NYU School of Medicine, New York, N.Y.

North Carolina

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Ohio

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio

Oregon

Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Ore.

Pennsylvania

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa.
Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pa.

Tennessee

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.

Texas

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

Washington

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Wash.
University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.

China

Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

To see the research St. Baldrick's is funding near you or in a specific type of research, visit the Grants Search page, or to learn more about each grant category visit the Grant Types page at StBaldricks.org. The next St. Baldrick's grant cycle will be announced this fall.

To join the fight and learn more about ways to fundraise or participate in St. Baldrick's head-shaving events, visit St. Baldrick's registration page. Connect with St. Baldrick's on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo.

About St. Baldrick's Foundation
As the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, the St. Baldrick's Foundation is leading the charge to take childhood back from cancer. St. Baldrick's funds some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts who are working to find cures and better treatments for all childhood cancers. Kids need treatments as unique as they are – and that starts with funding research just for them. Join us at StBaldricks.org to help support the best childhood cancer research, no matter where it takes place.

SOURCE St. Baldrick's Foundation