St. Baldrick’s Top 10 Highlights of 2017
2017 was a big year, full of breakthroughs, incredible stories and some pretty amazing achievements in the childhood cancer world. Join us as we reflect on St. Baldrick’s top 10 highlights of the past year — and make sure you give yourself a pat on the back, because much of this was possible because of YOU!
Are you ready to take a trip down memory lane? Here we go …
1) Passage of the RACE Act
A Peek Behind the Scenes: The St. Baldrick’s Grant and Scientific Review Process
Top: St. Baldrick’s researcher Akiko Shimamura (left) in her lab with a colleague at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. During her St. Baldrick’s-supported study, Dr. Shimamura studied a rare group of inherited bone marrow disorders that are associated with heightened risk of cancer. Bottom: Based at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, St. Baldrick’s researcher Scott Kachlany tested a new therapeutic agent for kids with ALL during his St. Baldrick’s-supported study.
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation makes a bold statement: We support the most promising childhood cancer research, wherever it takes place. And because we grant more childhood cancer research than any non-government funder, it’s crucial that those dollars go to the right projects. But how do we pick the right projects?
Rising to that challenge is a widely respected grant application and scientific review process created by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
Researcher Works to Crack the DIPG Code with Help from McKenna Claire
McKenna Claire was 7 years old when she was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor called DIPG. The McKenna Claire Foundation was established in her memory and in 2013, St. Baldrick’s partnered with the McKenna Claire Foundation to fund DIPG research, like the work done by Dr. Rameen Beroukhim at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Honored Kid McKenna Claire was bright, spirited, and loved soccer and gymnastics. McKenna was full of grace, joy and grit through it all, even as her childhood cancer progressed and she could no longer run across a soccer field, jump on a trampoline, talk or swallow. She died just six months after her diagnosis with a rare, fatal type of brain tumor called DIPG – weeks before her birthday. She would have been 8 years old.
Learn more about McKenna and her cancer journey from her mom, Kristine >
Stories like this are why St. Baldrick’s researcher Dr. Rameen Beroukhim studies DIPG, otherwise known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. In fact, McKenna’s photograph hangs in his lab.
And the International Arceci Award Goes to…
Usually, we pick one international winner of the Robert J. Arceci Innovation Award, but what happens when there are two equally deserving researchers with big ideas and big hearts for kids with cancer? Read on to find out!
After being nominated for the International Robert J. Arceci Innovation Award, (left) Dr. Franck Bourdeaut and (right) Dr. Jan-Henning Klusmann were both selected by a committee of experts and are being presented with the award today at the annual conference for the International Society of Paediatric Oncology.
Dr. Robert Arceci was a passionate innovator who dreamed big. He was a pioneer who knew that kids with cancer deserve better than what doctors can offer them and that breakthroughs are born from taking risks.
That’s why the international winner of the award established in his memory – the Robert J. Arceci Innovation Award – is given the resources and the freedom to follow their curiosity, pioneering spirit, and their passion for kids’ cancer research, wherever it leads.
Except this year, it’s winners of the Robert J. Arceci Innovation Award!
A Letter to You, From David’s Mom and Dad
Ever wonder if your contributions make a real difference? That money you donated to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation – did it really accomplish anything?
David squeezes his mom, Susan, tight during a fundraising event.
Let us tell you about our son, David.
Meet the St. Baldrick’s Innovation Award Winners
What do researchers Dr. Alex Huang and Dr. Carl Allen have in common? Passion, curiosity, drive, brilliant ideas, a desire to help kids — the list goes on! And now there’s something else. They are both recipients of the first St. Baldrick’s Innovation Award. What do they want to do with this unique grant? Read on to find out.
Dr. Carl Allen (left) is an associate professor at Texas Children’s Cancer Center and one of the investigators involved in the North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO), which received a St. Baldrick’s Consortium Grant. St. Baldrick’s researcher Dr. Alex Huang (right) is a professor of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and a 10-time shavee with St. Baldrick’s.
St. Baldrick’s researchers Dr. Alex Huang and Dr. Carl Allen work on different projects, in different labs about 1,300 miles away from each other.
Dr. Huang primarily studies how immunotherapy can help kids with cancer, while Dr. Allen studies Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis or LCH, which is caused by out-of-control immature white blood cells. The disorder can cause inflammatory tumors, damage organs and even cause brain degeneration in some patients.
The two researchers may work in different areas on different projects, but since the start of their careers in medicine, they’ve shared a goal — to help sick kids get better. And now they have something else in common.
Announcing St. Baldrick’s 2017 Summer Grants [VIDEO]
When the school bell rang for summer break, what did you do? Swim like a fish? Swing as high as the stars? Swoon over your summer love? Press pause on reliving those childhood glory days for a second, because we’ve got great news. Together, we are helping kids with cancer get back to being kids — all that summer fun included. Say hello to our 2017 Summer Grants!
Dr. Hilary Marusak received a St. Baldrick’s Supportive Care Research grant for her work studying whether a martial arts therapy that focuses on meditation and breathing techniques can reduce pain — and pain’s negative long-term impact — in kids with cancer and survivors.
Today, St. Baldrick’s is proud to announce our latest round of grants — our 2017 Summer Grants, totaling $23.5 million.
Champions Needed: The Future of Childhood Cancer Research is at Stake
This week the St. Baldrick’s Foundation calls to your attention two urgent challenges.
First, the new federal budget proposal calls for a cut of nearly 20% for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest funding source for childhood cancer research.
A ‘Meeting of the Minds’ to Look to the Future for Kids With Cancer
What happens when a group of experts come together to discuss developments in childhood cancer research and advocacy? Some inspiring conversations about new data, drugs and therapies, important childhood cancer legislation, and more — all to make sure we’re making the best investments with YOUR donations. Get the scoop on our 2016 Research and Advocacy Priorities Summit below.
Every couple of years, St. Baldrick’s brings together our experts to take stock of what we’re doing now, and to look to the future of childhood cancer research. We examine what we are doing well, what we can do better, and what we need to do to help kids with cancer not only survive, but thrive.
The Fight’s Never Over: The Two Biggest Threats Facing Childhood Cancer Survivors
Surviving childhood cancer isn’t the end of the fight. As survivors age, heart disease and secondary cancers become two big risks, often caused by the very treatment needed to save their lives. Read on to learn more about the two main threats to survivors and how St. Baldrick’s researchers are working to help.
Since surviving a brain tumor as a child, Ambassador Grace has dealt with long-term effects from her treatment.
After beating childhood cancer, survivors should be living long and healthy lives, but that isn’t always the case.
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