Childhood Cancer Research Grant Awarded to University of California, San Francisco

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Media Contact:
Traci Shirk
626-792-8247 ext. 50
traci@stbaldricks.org

Childhood Cancer Research Grant Awarded to University of California, San Francisco

St. Baldrick’s Foundation awards $50,000 to help children with cancer

SAN FRANCISCO (February 1, 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 $50,000 to University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). 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.

This grant will help provide necessary resources at UCSF to establish a diagnostic center of excellence for pediatric myeloproliferative neoplasms, focusing on juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), a rare but deadly form of childhood leukemia.

“The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital is deeply grateful for the ongoing support from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation,” said Dr. Mignon Loh, a pediatric cancer specialist at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. “This infrastructure grant will enable us to offer tests to patients suspected of having JMML in order to more accurately diagnose and treat children with the disease. Without these tests, JMML can be a very challenging diagnosis to make. Investigators at UCSF have been essential in identifying the genetic causes of JMML in their research laboratories, but this funding will allow us to bring these discoveries quickly to patients in a way that can be used clinically.”

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.

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.