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Press Release

St. Baldrick’s Foundation Funds $8.4 Million in Grants

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July 20, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Jo Anne Avelar
joanne.avelar@stbaldricks.org

Grants will support the best childhood cancer research

Los Angeles, CA (July 20, 2023) – The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the nation’s largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, is proud to announce the newest round of research grants totaling $8.4 million. The grants will support 34 projects at 23 leading academic and research institutions with a goal to find cures and better treatments for childhood cancers.

The projects include research to improve treatment effectiveness, reduce side effects, understand the biology of pediatric cancers, identify predictive factors, address disparities, and develop innovative therapies to improve the lives of kids with cancer. 

Grants were awarded in the following categories:

Consortium Research Grant – Funding given to groups of researchers at multiple institutions who are collaborating on projects with great promise.

International Scholar – Awards to train researchers from low- and middle- income countries to prepare them to answer specific research questions related to childhood cancer in their home country.

Research Grant – Funding for research projects that look to find new and better cures for childhood cancer.

St. Baldrick’s Scholar – Three or more years of funding given to early career professionals who are pursuing exciting research and without funding might have to leave the field.

New grants were awarded to: 

Alabama  

• Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Le Su, Ph.D. 

California   

• University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles  
  • St. Baldrick’s International Scholar: Anupong Sirirungreung M.D., M.P.H. 

• Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Srividya Swaminathan, Ph.D. 
  • Research Grant: Ling Li, Ph.D. 

• Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles   
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Babak Moghimi, M.D. 
  • Continuing Consortium Research Grant 

• University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego   
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Hari Narayan, M.D., M.S.C.E. 

• University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz  
  • Continuing Consortium Research Grant  

Georgia  

• Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta 
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Waitman Aumann, M.D. 
  • Continuing Consortium Research Grant 

Illinois  

• University of Chicago, Chicago  
  • Continuing Consortium Research Grant 
  • Pediatric Cancer Data Commons: Samuel Volchenboum M.D., Ph.D., M.S. 

Massachusetts   

• Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Yangming Ou, Ph.D. 

• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Jessica Tsai, M.D., Ph.D. 
  • Continuing Consortium Research Grant 

Maryland  

• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Challice Bonifant, M.D., Ph.D. 
  • Research Grant: Eric Raabe, M.D., Ph.D.  

Minnesota  

• National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis  
  • Continuing Consortium Research Grant 

• University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis   
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Mark Osborn, Ph.D. 

North Carolina  

• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill  
  • Research Grant: Alexander Kabanov, Ph.D., D.Sci. 

New York  

• Columbia University Medical Center, New York  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Cheng-Chia Wu, M.D., Ph.D. 

• NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York  
  • Research Grant: Iannis Aifantis, Ph.D. 

Ohio  

• Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): LaQuita Jones, D.O. 
  • Research Grant: Stella Davies, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. 

• The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Benjamin Stanton, Ph.D. 

Pennsylvania  

• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia  
  • Research Grant: Jennifer Kalish, M.D., Ph.D. 

• The Children’s Oncology Group Foundation, Philadelphia  
  • Cooperative Research Grant 

South Carolina   

• Prisma Health in the Midlands, Columbia  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Anna Hoppmann, M.D. 

Tennessee  

• St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis  
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Paulina Velasquez, M.D. 
  • St. Baldrick’s Scholar (continuing): Kelsey Bertrand, M.B.B.S. 
  • Consortium Research Grant 

Texas   

• Baylor College of Medicine, Houston   
  • Research Grant: Carl Allen, M.D., Ph.D. 
  • Continuing Consortium Research Grant 

Since 2005, St. Baldrick’s has granted over $338 million to fund the best childhood cancer research, wherever it takes place.

The next set of grants will be announced in November, supported by donations made between now and October. To learn more about the research these specific grants are supporting, check out the St. Baldrick’s blog. For more information about St. Baldrick’s Foundation grants or ways to get involved, please visit StBaldricks.org.

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 charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, is on a mission to Conquer Kids’ Cancer 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 training of the next generation of researchers, to lifesaving clinical trials. Visit StBaldricks.org and help #ConquerKidsCancer.