Childhood Cancer Research Grant Awarded to Tulane University School of Medicine

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Traci Shirk
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Childhood Cancer Research Grant Awarded to Tulane University School of Medicine

St. Baldrick’s Foundation awards $29,493 to help kids with cancer

NEW ORLEANS (January 25, 2012) – It takes life-saving research and access to clinical trials to help children with cancer. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, awarded an infrastructure grant of $29,493 to Tulane University School of Medicine. The Foundation’s infrastructure grants provide institutions with resources to enable them to conduct more research and enroll more kids in ongoing clinical trials – their best hope for a cure.

Worldwide, more than 160,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year and it remains the leading cause of death by disease among children in the United States. With only 4 percent of all federal cancer research funding dedicated to pediatric cancer research, and more than 70 percent of children receiving treatment through clinical trials, St. Baldrick’s Foundation infrastructure grants are critical to finding cures for all childhood cancers.

The grant will help Tulane continue to provide the latest cancer treatments and advances to patients by providing funding for a clinical research associate who will monitor clinical trials for pediatric oncology.

“Every treatment, every stage of therapy and any complications are carefully and strictly monitored and regulated. Without our clinical research associate, we could not provide this amazingly standardized care,” said Dr. Tammuella Singleton, section chief of pediatric hematology-oncology at Tulane University School of Medicine. “If you could only look into the eyes of the children we treat here, or hold a gaze just for a second with their parents, you would understand how important these therapies are in saving lives.”

The infrastructure grants, combined with the more than $19.6 million awarded in June, bring the St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s funding total to more than $21 million awarded in 2011. Infrastructure grants were awarded based on the need of the institution and its patients, anticipated results of the grant and local participation in St. Baldrick’s events.

For the past four years, Tulane medical students have held one of the largest St. Baldrick’s fundraisers in the New Orleans area, raising more than $253,000. More than 100 students will have their heads shaved at this year’s event, scheduled for noon Wednesday, Feb. 8, at Tulane Medical Center.

Everyone can do their part to support St. Baldrick’s! To locate or organize an event in your community, sign-up to shave, donate or volunteer, visit www.StBaldricks.org. You can also become a fan on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, join our letsCONQUER movement and visit the Foundation’s YouTube and Vimeo channels.

About the St. Baldrick’s Foundation
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. The Foundation funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government. St. Baldrick’s funds are granted to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts in the world and to younger professionals who will be the experts of tomorrow. Funds awarded also enable hundreds of local institutions to participate in national pediatric cancer clinical trials, a child’s best hope for a cure. Since the Foundation’s first grants as an independent charity in 2005, St. Baldrick’s has funded more than $78 million in childhood cancer research. For more information about the St. Baldrick’s Foundation please call 1.888.899.BALD or visit www.StBaldricks.org.