St. Baldrick's Foundation Awards $2.5 Million in Pediatric Oncology Research Grants

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 6, 2014) - The St. Baldrick's Foundation, a volunteer-driven and donor-centered charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, is proud to announce that its latest cycle of pediatric oncology research grants have totaled more than $2.5 million to fund 40 institutions across the U.S. These infrastructure grants provide resources to institutions enabling them to conduct more research and enroll more children in ongoing clinical trials. This series of grants, combined with the more than $24.7 million awarded in July to fund cutting-edge research, brings the St. Baldrick's Foundation's funding total to more than $27.2 million awarded in 2014.

Worldwide a child is diagnosed every 3 minutes, and in the U.S., more children die of childhood cancer than any other disease. Of those who survive, 80 percent will have severe or life-threatening conditions as a result of treatment. As the leading non-governmental provider of childhood cancer research grants, the St. Baldrick's Foundation continues its commitment to fund the most promising research initiatives to overcome these startling realities, providing kids with more effective and less toxic treatments to give survivors long, healthy lives.

"The St. Baldrick's Foundation is proud to fund this latest round of infrastructure grants, which will improve the capacity of local research hospitals to do more research, enroll more children on cutting-edge clinical trials, and complete studies that have been in progress for some time," said Kathleen Ruddy, chief executive officer for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. "These grants are critically important to saving children's lives, and would not be possible without our dedicated volunteers and generous donors who believe kids deserve better than medicine is currently able to provide."

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.

St. Baldrick's infrastructure grants were distributed to the following institutions:

• Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, Ariz.
• Children's Hospital Central California, Madera, Calif.
• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland, Oakland, Calif.
• University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
• University of California, San Diego, San Diego, Calif.
• Miller Children's Hospital, Long Beach, Calif.
• Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, Conn.
• Miller School of Medicine of The University of Miami, Miami, Fla.
• Children's Hospital at Memorial University Medical Center, Savannah, Ga.
• Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Ga.
• Blank Children's Hospital, Des Moines, Iowa
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, Chicago, Ill.
• University of Illinois - Chicago/Rush/Stroger Medical Centers, Chicago, Ill.
• University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky.
• *University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Mass.
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.
• Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Mo.
• Alliance for Childhood Diseases, Las Vegas, Nev.
• The Children's Hospital at Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, N.J.
• University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, N.M.
• Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.
• Albany Medical Center, Albany, N.Y.
• SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, N.Y.
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, N.Y.
• Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, N.C.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C.
• Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
• The Research Institute at Nationwide, Columbus, Ohio
• University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.
• East Tennessee Children's Hospital, Knoxville, Tenn.
• University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
• *Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, Austin, Texas
• Vannie E. Cook, Jr. Children's Cancer and Hematology Clinic, McAllen, Texas
• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas
• Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Norfolk, Va.
• St. Vincent Hospital Regional Cancer Center, Green Bay, Wis.

*Receiving a direct St. Baldrick's Foundation grant for the first time. (Local institutions also receive funds annually from a national grant to a cooperative research group.)

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

About St. Baldrick's Foundation
The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. St. Baldrick's coordinates its signature head-shaving events worldwide where participants collect pledges to shave their heads in solidarity with kids with cancer, raising money to fund research. Since 2005, St. Baldrick's has awarded more than $154 million to support lifesaving research, making the Foundation the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants. St. Baldrick's funds are granted to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts in the world and to younger professionals who will be the experts of tomorrow. Funds awarded also enable hundreds of local institutions to participate in national pediatric cancer clinical trials, and the new International Scholar grants train researchers to work in developing countries. For more information about the St. Baldrick's Foundation please call 1.888.899.BALD or visit www.StBaldricks.org.