Grants Search Results

Cancer-related pain greatly compromises quality of life, and can increase disease morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs by reducing children's compliance to medical procedures. The burden of cancer-related pain does not end when treatment concludes: many survivors of childhood cancer report cancer-related pain well into adulthood. Thus, there is a critical need for interventions that can reduce pain during and after children's treatments for cancer. Dr. Marusak is testing whether a martial arts therapy that centers around mindful breathing and meditative techniques can reduce pain and the underlying brain mechanisms in young cancer patients and survivors.

The survival rates of pediatric cancers have dramatically improved over the past 40 years due to aggressive treatment regimens, which have side effects. Anthracyclines are one class of chemotherapy drugs that have been used to treat more than 190,000 childhood cancer survivors but cause risk of cardiovascular disease. Connecticut Children's team of oncologists, cardiologists and endocrinologists has developed a clinical practice guidelines to prevent and recognize early cardiovascular disease in pediatric cancer survivors. Dr. Orsey is testing their scoring system among childhood cancer patients from a database and in the clinic. She anticipates that the scoring system will allow doctors to standardize the way they treat patients so that cardiovascular disease is prevented or recognized and treated early in order to decrease heart disease in childhood cancer survivors.

Children treated for leukemia often have difficulty with school and learning. These children are also known to report sleep disturbances. With the MaxLove Project Fund St. Baldrick's Supportive Care Research Grant, Dr. Ruble is measuring sleep with a home monitor, and testing survivors for specific learning difficulties. She will then examine the relationship between sleep and cognitive function in this population. Dr. Ruble hopes in the future that this will allow researchers to design treatments for sleep disturbances that will ultimately help with learning and school.

The MaxLove Project Fund honors the survivorship journey of Max Wilford who was diagnosed with a brain stem tumor at the age of four. Despite several surgeries and an intense treatment protocol, Max is now able to be a “regular” kid due in large part to integrative therapies he received.

Unrelieved symptoms lead to poorer quality of life for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. Strategies are needed to help AYAs manage symptoms. Dr. Ameringer and her team have developed the Computerized Symptom Capture Tool (C-SCAT), a novel way to assess symptoms where AYAs create a picture of their symptoms using images and text on an app. Dr. Ameringer is testing whether use of the C-SCAT improves the self-management of symptoms and patient-provider communication about symptoms in AYAs with cancer. Dr. Ameringer's findings will inform a larger trial of the C-SCAT as a strategy to improve AYA symptom self-management, and in turn, quality of life.

Young age at diagnosis and intense therapy result in multiple late effects for Neuroblastoma survivors. The majority of High-Risk Neuroblastoma HR-NBL survivors have striking growth failure. Dr. Mostoufi-Moab is investigating the mechanism of growth failure in high-risk neuroblastoma survivors. Dr. Mostoufi-Moab is employing state-of-the art imaging measures of the growth plate to study and understand the mechanism of growth failure in high-risk neuroblastoma survivors, and target future intervention trials.

Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer have an increased risk of developing secondary cancers, cardiovascular, metabolic and bone diseases as well as cognitive impairments, which can reduce their survival and quality of life. Furthermore, most AYA cancer survivors do not meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity. Dr. Nock is conducting a pilot study using 'cybercycling' (stationary cycling with interactive video gaming) to improve quality of life in AYA cancer survivors. She will also see if this exercise program improves their motivation to exercise, body composition (weight, body fat), fatigue, depression, and sleep habits.

Adolescents and young adults with cancer do not receive adequate support and face a higher rate of relapse relative to younger patients. Dr. Schwartz's project is taking a current texting intervention which aims to improve health-related knowledge and engagement, and upgrading the technology and content in order to maximize the impact. This research aims to ultimately help improve the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults with cancer.

Most childhood cancer survivors develop complications associated with their treatment and many will require hospitalization. Dr. Smitherman is working to determine how often survivors are seen in an emergency department or hospitalized in the first years following completion of treatment. This research is also reviewing which medications are prescribed during this time to better understand what medical complications survivors are experiencing. With this knowledge, Dr. Smitherman hopes to prevent complications and improve survivors' quality of life.

Survivors of pediatric brain tumors commonly struggle with progressive declines in attention and memory that emerge following neurosurgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Unfortunately, little is known about the neurobiological substrates of these cognitive dysfunctions. Dr. Posner's Grace for Good St. Baldrick's Supportive Care Grant aims to identify the specific changes in functional and structural brain connectivity that correlate with neurocognitive decline by collecting advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological test data on survivors. This data is being compared with healthy controls across three academic medical centers: Columbia University Medical Center, Children's Medical Center-Dallas and Seattle Children's Hospital.

This grant is named for the Grace for Good Fund created in honor of Grace Carey, a medulloblastoma survivor. It supports research of brain tumors and survivorship issues in the hopes of changing kids' lives for good.

By increasing physical activity, survivors may reduce their risk of obesity and chronic diseases, and improve their quality of life. Dr. Mendoza's research aims to examine the use of a wearable physical activity device, the Fitbit, paired with a Facebook group, to increase physical activity among teen childhood cancer survivors. This approach aims to harness new wearable technology and the widespread use of smart phones to use individual- and peer-influences to promote physical activity.

While great advances have been made in childhood cancer treatment, all children do not benefit equally from these innovations. Previous research suggests that disadvantaged children are more likely to die from cancer because their families have difficulty complying with treatment guidelines. Enhancing childhood cancer families’ abilities to adhere to treatment protocols is of critical importance to ensure that all children benefit from innovations in care. Dr. Gage-Bouchard is examining the factors that shape families’ abilities to comply with treatment protocols – a critical first step in developing interventions to increase treatment adherence among children diagnosed with cancer.

This grant develops, implements, and evaluates a novel curriculum in humanism and professionalism for pediatric oncology fellows. Funds will also be used to determine the optimal size of the pediatric hematology-oncology fellow workforce in order to meet the clinical demands of the field.

This grant provides resources to establish a soft tissue sarcoma subspecialty team to improve patient outcomes and ensure the best transition for adults from pediatric survival clinic to adult care.

Brain tumors are the most common solid cancer in children, and are often cured with radiation therapy. While radiation attacks the tumor, it can also leave the child with significant learning problems that affect their quality of life over the many years following cancer. Dr. Castellino focuses on understanding how heart function and brain vessel function may have been affected during treatment of the brain tumor. The goal of this research is to create strategies to prevent or lessen the injury to the brain during treatment, not only to cure the cancer in children, but also to preserve normal function for productive and healthy lives as cancer survivors.

Nutrition experts recommend that pediatric cancer survivors eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products, and to lead active lifestyles. However, studies suggest that childhood cancer survivors are at risk for excessive weight gain and poor fitness. Strategies to enhance the nutritional quality of diets and to promote physical activity among cancer survivors are greatly needed. This study assesses the feasibility of healthy lifestyle coaching by group televideo conferencing to encourage healthy lifestyle modifications.

The project involves creating a web application that will generate computerized tailored resilience profiles for adolescents and young adults with cancer (AYA) and their parents. The tailored resilience profiles will summarize meaningful of information regarding the AYAs' and parents' strengths and areas that could be improved. The overall goal is to give them information to help them achieve a sense of resilience during cancer treatment. Resilience means a person feels a sense of confidence and well-being in the midst of a life-threatening illness. Fostering resilience during the cancer experience leads to improve quality of life.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Bona was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. The goal of this research is to identify social factors that contribute to childhood cancer mortality, and symptoms and suffering during treatment. While we know that poverty is associated with poor health in pediatric primary care and children with chronic illness, we don't know how poverty impacts the health of children with cancer. Dr. Bona will develop a screening tool which can be used to identify childhood cancer families at-risk for material hardship, and to study the relationship between poverty and childhood cancer outcomes, with the ultimate goal of designing ways to improve pediatric cancer outcomes related to poverty.

This grant funds a Clinical Research Associate to further develop and enhance the supportive care program within the research department.

While most childhood cancer patients no longer die from cancer, young adult survivors of childhood cancer face enormously distressing side effects from their life-saving treatments. These include severe sexual and reproductive problems. Currently, no support is available to help educate young adult survivors about how to manage treatment-related sexual problems and fertility-related distress. This project aims to develop and deliver the first sexual health educational intervention for young adult survivors. This research can make a significantly positive impact on the quality of life for thousands of young adult cancer survivors who are struggling and in need of support.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Preventing Heart Injury During Cancer Treatment. For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA.