Childhood Research Grant Awarded to Children’s Hospital & Research Center at Oakland

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Traci Shirk
626-792-8247 ext. 50
traci@stbaldricks.org

Childhood Research Grant Awarded to Children’s Hospital & Research Center at Oakland

St. Baldrick’s Foundation awards $99,969 to help kids with cancer

OAKLAND, Calif. (January 18, 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 $99,969 to Children’s Hospital & Research Center at Oakland. 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 specific grant will help fund the expansion and sustainability of a comprehensive long-term follow-up program to monitor and treat secondary cancers as well as the many other health issues that young cancer patients face as they enter into adulthood.

“We are very excited about the funding from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for our long-term follow-up program,” said Dr. James Feusner, Medical Director of the Oncology Program in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland. “This support helps us immensely in providing care for many of our patients who are disadvantaged from the standpoints of occupation, insurance and general medical and psychological support for the issues they have to deal with in this phase of their cancer survivorship. We will be able to develop detailed summaries of their complex medical histories, develop evidence-based plans for follow-up evaluations and care as well as assist those who need help in obtaining jobs and insurance. We hope within one-year to reach out to at least 50 of our patients in this category and characterize more precisely all the barriers they face to getting the care they need.”

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.