St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Named No. 1 Children's Cancer Hospital in U.S.

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St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Jun 03, 2010, 12:01 ET

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has been named the nation's top children's cancer hospital in the 2010-11 Best Children's Hospital rankings published in U.S. News & World Report. St. Jude received the best overall score summarizing quality of care. St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children and serves as an international resource to physicians and researchers.

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"This recognition is an outstanding external acknowledgment for our institution, but more importantly for the dedicated St. Jude faculty and staff who devote their time, talent and lives to the young patients we see every day," said Dr. William E. Evans, St. Jude director and CEO.

This year's rankings were based on how well a hospital did in three areas: reputation; medical outcomes such as cancer survival; and care-related indicators of quality such as the number of patients, nursing staff and other factors.

The 2010-11 Best Children's Hospitals rankings are posted at www.usnews.com/childrenshospitals. They will also be published in the August print issue of U.S. News & World Report.

St. Jude is internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world and has developed research protocols that helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened to almost 80 percent today. St. Jude is the national coordinating center for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. In addition to pediatric cancer research, St. Jude is also a leader in sickle cell disease research and is a globally prominent research center for influenza.

Founded in 1962 by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world, publishing more research articles than any other pediatric cancer research center in the United States. St. Jude treats more than 5,700 patients each year and is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance.

St. Jude is financially supported by thousands of individual donors, organizations and corporations without which the hospital's work would not be possible. In 2010, St. Jude was ranked the most trusted charity in the nation in a public survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a highly respected international polling and research firm. For more information, go to www.stjude.org.

SOURCE St. Jude Children's Research Hospital