Grant from St. Baldrick’s Foundation Will Support Expansion of Childhood Cancer Research Trials at Wake Forest Baptist

Grant from St. Baldrick’s Foundation Will Support Expansion of Childhood Cancer Research Trials at Wake Forest Baptist

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Jan. 23, 2012 – A grant of $48,770 from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation will help expand childhood cancer research trials at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

The grant to the Wake Forest School of Medicine will support a staff position to coordinate clinical research trials that investigate new treatments and aftercare for young patients. Trials must uphold strict scientific and ethical standards, and meeting such commitments requires extensive documentation and data management. The grant will fund a skilled staff member to handle these functions, allowing physicians and nurses to focus on patient care.

Wake Forest Baptist is one of 30 institutions to receive funding as part of St. Baldrick’s 2011 infrastructure grants, which total $1.8 million. The grants are intended to help institutions treat more children in clinical trials or provide resources to make more research possible.

“Clinical trials are one of the main reasons 75 percent of childhood cancers can now be cured,” said Thomas W. McLean, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, who applied for the grant. “Thanks to St. Baldrick’s, we are enrolling more of our patients in trials right here at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center without the disruption that travel to another research site brings to children and their families.”

The nonprofit St. Baldrick’s Foundation is the world’s largest volunteer-driven fundraising charity for childhood cancer research. Since issuing its first grants as an independent charity in 2005, St. Baldrick’s has funded more than $78 million in childhood cancer research.

“We are excited to make these grants to enable childhood cancer researchers to offer better treatment options to their patients,” said Becky Chapman Weaver, chief philanthropy officer for the foundation. “St. Baldrick’s volunteers and donors are making more research possible, which results in more lives saved.”

More information about the St. Baldrick’s Fondation is available online at www.stbaldricks.org.

Media Contacts: Eric Whittington, ewhittin@wakehealth.edu, (336) 716-5318; Wayne Mogielnicki, wmogieln@wakehealth.edu, (336)716-8043.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (www.wakehealth.edu) is a fully integrated academic medical center located in Winston-Salem, N.C. The institution comprises the medical education and research components of Wake Forest School of Medicine; the integrated clinical structure and consumer brand Wake Forest Baptist Health, which includes North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Brenner Children’s Hospital; the commercialization of research discoveries through the Piedmont Triad Research Park, as well as a network of affiliated community-based hospitals, physician practices, outpatient services and other medical facilities. Wake Forest School of Medicine is ranked among the nation’s best medical schools and is a leading national research center in fields such as regenerative medicine, cancer, neuroscience, aging, addiction and public health sciences. Wake Forest Baptist’s clinical programs are consistently ranked as among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

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.