B+ Research Grants Announced
While it warms my heart to read the letters from the B+ Hero Families that we assist, I have to admit that I get REALLY excited by the research that we help fund. We live in a VERY exciting time of scientific discovery for pediatric oncology right now and the field is dramatically different than it was in 2007 when Andrew died. The reason for that is because research is being funded, primarily by NCI and charities like The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation. Simply put - RESEARCH WORKS!
As I hope you know, we are THE LARGEST provider of financial assistance to families of kids with cancer in the US and one of the largest funders of childhood cancer research. With an increasing incidence rate of childhood cancer, we need to fix the problem in addition to helping the families that are currently suffering.
Of course the ultimate goal is to find cures for all of the dozens of types of childhood cancer, but in the near-term, better treatment options are very important. They can increase a child’s chance of survival, reduce the toxicity of treatment, and minimize long-term side effects. Did you know that virtually all childhood cancer survivors will have some form of serious physical or emotional side effect?
The research proposals that we receive during our grant cycle are reviewed by our 10 member, world-class Scientific Advisory Board. Please click here to learn more about our Board and specific details of current and past awardees.
We received dozens of really impressive proposals (fyi…a proposal is about 50 pages) and I pleased to announce the following researchers will each be receiving a $150,000 grant. In total, we are awarding $1,500,000 in this cycle.
Dr. Bruno DiStefano - Baylor College of Medicine (Houston)
Dr. Liron Grossman - Sheba Hospital (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Dr. Loretta Li - Lurie Children’s Hospital (Chicago)
Dr. Yanxin Pei - Children’s National (DC)
Dr. John Prensner - University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Dr. Jeffrey Rubnitz - St. Jude (Memphis)
Dr. Kris Sarosiek - Harvard (Cambridge)
Dr. Raja Thandapani - MD Anderson (Houston)
Dr. Hiro Watanabe - Baylor College of Medicine (Houston)
Dr, William Carroll - New York University (NYC)
We are honored to support these brilliant and collaborative investigators and their teams. We will continue to keep you posted on their progress. Visit https://www.bepositive.org/research to learn more.
Thank you all for your continued support.
B+
Ali & Andrew’s Dad
