St. Baldrick's Foundation Announces $2.2 Million in Grants to Give More Kids Access to Clinical Trials

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For childhood cancers, clinical trials are not the exception; they are the standard of care, with each patient receiving either the best-known treatment or one that may prove to be better. To allow more kids access to clinical trials, the St. Baldrick's Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, has awarded 39 infrastructure grants totaling $2.2 million to institutions across the country.

"The majority of childhood cancer patients are treated on a clinical trial," said Kathleen Ruddy, CEO of St. Baldrick's. "Research relies on enrolling large numbers of patients on clinical trials to ensure results are meaningful and advancements are made. Funding from St. Baldrick's will ensure more kids have access to clinical trials, giving them a better chance at survival and a future with less long-term effects."

St. Baldrick's Infrastructure Grants were awarded to the following institutions:

• Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Ga.
• Akron Children's Hospital, Akron, Ohio
• Albany Medical College, Albany, N.Y.
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
• Blank Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Des Moines, Iowa
• Bon Secours St. Francis Health System Foundation, Greenville, S.C.
• Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland, Oakland, Calif.
• Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Norfolk, Va.
• Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Foundation, Milwaukee, Wis.
• Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas
• El Paso Children's Hospital Corporation, El Paso, Texas
• HSHS St. Vincent Cancer Research Institute, Green Bay, Wis.
• Loma Linda University Health, Loma Linda, Calif.
• Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, Ga.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y.
• MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif.
• North Broward Hospital District d/b/a Broward Health, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• Ochsner Hospital for Children, New Orleans, La.
• Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, Fla.
• Spectrum Health System, Grand Rapids, Mich.
• SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, St. Louis, Mo.
• Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Coral Gables, Fla.
• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas
• The Research Foundation for SUNY on behalf of SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, N.Y.
• The Research Foundation for the State University New York, Stony Brook, N.Y.
• The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M.
• University of California, San Diego
• University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.
• University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
• University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Mass.
• University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• University of South Carolina and the College of Pharmacy, Columbia, S.C.
• University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wis.
• Valley Children's Healthcare, Madera, Calif.
• Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children's Cancer and Hematology Clinic, McAllen, Texas
• Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, N.C.

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. These grants give institutions the resources they need to do more research.

This series of grants brings the St. Baldrick's Foundation's funding total to more than $25.7 million awarded in 2017. Since 2005, St. Baldrick's has awarded more than $232 million in lifesaving childhood research grants to support the most promising childhood cancer research, no matter where it takes place.

To learn how you can get involved, visit www.StBaldricks.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo. Read more about the research we fund on the St. Baldrick's blog.

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 is leading the charge to take childhood back from cancer by funding 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.

SOURCE St. Baldrick's Foundation