What is a fellowship?
To specialize in pediatric oncology research in the U.S., one must first graduate from medical school, then complete a pediatric residency, and finally be accepted into one of approximately 60 pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship training programs, lasting three years.

The first year of a fellowship is devoted to training and patient care. In years two and three - the years funded by St. Baldrick's Fellowship grants - the fellow conducts his or her own childhood cancer research project, under the mentorship of an expert. Funding may also be requested for a fourth year for projects needing that extra time.


Who are the St. Baldrick's Fellows?

• Keith August, M.D.
  
  
  Children's Healthcare of Atlanta/ AFLAC Cancer Center
  Atlanta, GA
  Dr. Keith August's research involves graft versus host disease (GVHD), a significant problem for patients after receiving a stem cell transplant from siblings, matched unrelated donors, or cord blood. He hopes to determine if lab tests can predict the onset of GVHD prior to patients showing clinical symptoms, so treatment can be provided in time for maximum benefit.
  
  
• Carmen Barnes, Ph. D.
  
  
  Children's Hospital Boston
  Boston, MA
  
  
  
• Erin Boatsman, M.D.
  
  
  David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Medical Center
  Los Angeles, CA
  Dr. Boatsman will be learning if a new method to help adults produce more stem cells will be effective for childhood cancer patients, with the goal of improving the care and quality of life for children with cancer who need stem cell transplants.
  
  
  
• Don Coulter, M.D.
  
  
  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Chapel Hill, NC
  Dr. Don Coulter is studying whether growth factors may be important in the proliferation of neuroblastoma cells. His research may lead to new therapeutic interventions and improved long-term survival for neuroblastoma patients.
  
  
  
• Sean Downing, Ph.D.
  
  
  Children's Hospital Boston
  Boston, MA
  
  
  
• Jennifer Freed, M.D.
  
  
  Columbia University
  New York, NY
  Dr. Freed is researching if Notch proteins are one element that allows new blood vessel growth in neuroblastoma tumors to escape the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) molecule, thus supplying oxygen and nutrients to the cancer. Her goal is to find the best use of VEGF blocking drugs to help children with neuroblastoma and to assist in developing new treatments for the tumors that elude VEGF inhibiting treatments.
  
  
  
• Faith Galderisi, M.D.
  
  
  Oregon Health & Science University
  Portland, OR
  Dr. Faith Galderisi is studying whether sensitivity or resistance to chemotherapy in the laboratory predicts how well a leukemia patient responds to treatment. A more timely and accurate way of identifying patients with resistant disease could lead to an improved chance of cure by modifying therapy as soon as possible after diagnosis.
  
  
  
• Veronica H. Jude, M.D.
  
  
  Riley Hospital for Children
  Indianapolis, IN
  Dr. Jude is investigating more efficient and effective methods to expand the limited amount of stem cells currently obtained from an individual human umbilical cord, which can then help many pediatric cancer patients through stem cell transplants.
  
  
• Jason Law, M.D.
  
  
  University of California, San Francisco
  San Francisco, CA
  Dr. Law is studying biomarkers present at diagnosis that will allow doctors to separate out higher-risk patients, so they can receive more intensive treatment and improved survival rates, while children whose cancers are more easily cured can avoid unnecessary toxicities of therapy.
  
  
• Jason Litten, M.D.
  
  
  Southwestern Medical Center
  Dallas, TX
  Dr. Jason Litten's research is focused on hepatoblastoma, a rare liver cancer usually seen in children under five, which seems to have a strong genetic link. Identifying abnormal genes in hepatoblastoma and understanding its genetic basis may have implications for other cancer types, as well.
  
  
• Lars Muller, M.D.
  
  
  Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
  Cincinnati, OH
  Dr. Muller is aiming to develop new gene therapy strategies for Fanconi Anemia (FA), a genetic condition resulting in a strong predisposition for bone marrow failure and cancer, to allow for the reconstitution of the bone marrow compartment with healthy bone marrow cells.
  
  
• Nino Rainusso, M.D.
  
  
  Texas Children's Cancer Center
  Houston, TX
  Due to increased evidence that tumors resistant to treatment may contain a special group of cells called Cancer Stem Cells (CSC), Dr. Rainusso will try to identify CSC from pediatric solid tumors, especially those for which current therapy is inadequate, and eventually to use them to test new anticancer treatments.
  
  
• Sharon Singh, M.D.
  
  
  Schneider Children's Hospital
  New Hyde Park, NY
  Dr. Sharon Singh became the first St. Baldrick's Fellow in July 2005. Her project strives to make progress in the early diagnosis of childhood cancer and may have benefits for adults with cancer, as well. Her fellowship continues this year.
  
  
• Carly R. Varela, M.D.
  
  
  The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  Philadelphia, PA
  Dr. Varela is researching an inhibitor to block Trk receptor proteins on the surface of neuroblastoma cells, which play an important role in their behavior. A therapy based on this approach would promote the death of cancer cells without the toxic effects of many current treatments, while helping to cure neuroblastoma patients, and may also prove effective for other childhood cancers such as Wilms tumors and medulloblastomas.