$50,000 Awarded to Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey to Support Childhood Cancer Research

New Brunswick, N.J. (December 7, 2016) – Childhood cancer patients depend on clinical trials to find better, safer cures that can prevent lifelong damage as a result of radiation and chemotherapy. Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey will receive an infrastructure grant from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to expand access to their clinical trials.

Despite the increase of childhood cancer survival rates in the last two decades, adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients have had minimal improvement in cure rates. Contributing to this statistic is the AYA population’s low numbers of participation in clinical trials.

Funding from St. Baldrick’s, totaling $50,000, will ensure that more AYA patients can be treated by clinical trials with the most innovative drugs and therapies available at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

“Enabling access to clinical trials for more adolescent and young adult cancer patients is critical, as many in this population may not qualify for the adult clinical trials that could benefit them, despite their young age. Conversely, some young adults whose care may be best understood and managed by a pediatric practitioner may not be eligible for applicable pediatric protocols,” notes Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Section Chief Richard Drachtman, M.D. “This grant will afford our clinical research nurses the additional time and resources needed to explore specific trials and match AYAs so that they can achieve the most benefit from their cancer treatment. We thank the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for its generous support in helping our team address this challenge.”

Infrastructure grants are awarded based on the need of the institution and its patients, anticipated results of the grant, and local participation in St. Baldrick’s fundraising events and activities.

“Hosting our St. Baldrick’s event in North Plainfield for the past 14 years has been a privilege. The benefit has been mutual, as raising funds and awareness to conquer childhood cancers and inviting our community into the fire station to interact with our firefighters are opportunities that didn’t easily exist before,” said Robert Beattie volunteer event organizer of the North Plainfield Fire Department St. Baldrick’s event. “Having some of those funds return to central New Jersey by way of an infrastructure grant is a point of great personal and professional pride, just as our event becoming a North Plainfield tradition and fortifying the connection between our community and its firefighters is.”

This series of grants, combined with the more than $22 million awarded in July, brings the St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s funding total to $24.1 million awarded in 2016.

To learn how you can get involved visit www.StBaldricks.org, and connect with St. Baldrick’s on social media via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo.

About St. Baldrick’s Foundation
As the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation believes that kids are special and deserve to be treated that way. St. Baldrick’s funds are granted to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts who are working to find cures and better treatments for all childhood cancers. Kids need treatments as unique as they are – and that starts with funding research just for them. Join us at StBaldricks.org to help support the best cancer treatments for kids.

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