St. Baldrick’s Foundation Funds $3.5 Million in Grants

Kids with cancer deserve better. St. Baldrick’s Foundation commits to finding better treatment options through research.

LOS ANGELES (July 20, 2021) – 2020 was the year that people and organizations learned how to pivot. Pivot from working in the office to working at home, from dropping kids off at school to homeschool, redefining how we stay connected, while taking precautions to ensure others around us are healthy and safe.

While many non-profits were negatively affected by the pandemic, including the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the St. Baldrick’s community continued to show up for kids who battle cancer. Through virtual and socially distanced head-shaving events, playing Schick Xtreme Shave the Day mobile game, and other creative fundraisers, supporters from cities across the U.S. continued to raise critical funds for childhood cancer research.

Because of these volunteer efforts, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation is proud to award $3.5 million in childhood cancer research grants.

Because kids with cancer desperately need more research.

• Every two minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer worldwide.
• In the United States, one in five of those kids diagnosed with cancer will not survive.
• Of those who do survive, 96 percent have a severe or life-threatening condition by the age of 50.

While the amount of funding for this grant cycle is lower than normal, St. Baldrick’s investment into lifesaving research projects will lead the quest for more effective and less toxic cures for childhood cancers.

Kids with cancer deserve better.

With these awarded grants, childhood cancer researchers can continue to pursue new ideas and push new treatments toward the finish line of cures for kids with cancer.

“Kids are our future, and those of us who have been fortunate to reach adulthood will remember the many hopes and dreams we carried through our childhoods. When a child has cancer, those aspirations and bright futures are in jeopardy,” said Kathleen Ruddy, St. Baldrick’s Foundation CEO. “Through these grants, kids with cancer are given hope that they will have more treatment options and less toxic cures. Helping them to grow up healthy and strong and able to contribute their unique gifts to the world is a mission worth fighting for.”

The following institutions were awarded grants:

• California
  • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Georgia
  • Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Ga.
• Illinois
  • University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
• New York
  • Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, N.Y.
• Ohio
  • Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Pennsylvania
  • Children’s Oncology Group, Philadelphia, Pa.
• Tennessee
  • St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn.
• Texas
  • Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Within this grant cycle, St. Baldrick’s has also awarded more than $857,000 to the Children’s Oncology Group, a National Cancer Institute supported clinical trials group, and the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to conducting childhood and adolescent cancer research.

To date, St. Baldrick’s has granted over $310 million to support the most promising research to find cures for all childhood cancers.

For more details about the research St. Baldrick’s is funding near you, a specific disease type or research focus area, visit the Grants Search page. The next St. Baldrick’s grants will be announced this fall.

To donate to critical childhood cancer research or to learn the many ways you can get involved, visit StBaldricks.org. Become an advocate and join the Speak Up for Kids’ Cancer advocacy action network to encourage federal lawmakers to continue to fund childhood cancer research. Connect with St. Baldrick’s on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

About St. Baldrick’s Foundation
Every 2 minutes a child somewhere in the world is diagnosed with cancer. In the U.S., 1 in 5 will not survive. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest non-government funder of childhood cancer research grants, is on a mission to give kids a lifetime by supporting the most promising research to find cures and better treatments for all childhood cancers. When you give to St. Baldrick’s, you don’t just give to one hospital – you support virtually every institution with the expertise to treat kids with cancer across the U.S. St. Baldrick’s ensures that children fighting cancer now — and those diagnosed in the future — will have access to the most cutting-edge treatment, by supporting every stage of research, from new ideas in the lab to the development of new therapies, to lifesaving clinical trials. Join us at StBaldricks.org and help #GiveKidsaLifetime.

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