New York Medical College Awarded More Than $1 Million to Support Childhood Cancer Research
Research will promote the use of targeted cellular therapy for children and adolescents with relapsed/refractory and poor risk lymphoma.
Jennifer Riekert, M.B.A.
Vice President of Communications
New York Medical College
(914) 594-4552
Jennifer_Riekert@nymc.edu
The two-year grant, named as “The Markit St. Baldrick’s Consortium Research Grant,” will help fund the Childhood and Adolescent Lymphoma Cell Therapy Consortium (CALCTC)
VALHALLA, N.Y. – November 3, 2014 – The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven and donor-centered charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, has awarded an additional consortium research grant totaling more than $1 million to New York Medical College. The two-year grant, named as “The Markit St. Baldrick’s Consortium Research Grant,” will help fund the Childhood and Adolescent Lymphoma Cell Therapy Consortium (CALCTC) which brings together eight multi-disciplinary academic centers to facilitate targeted cell based translational research in poor-risk and rare lymphomas. This grant supports eight outstanding lymphoma centers including New York Medical College and Children’s National Medical Center and is led by Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., and Catherine Bollard, M.D., as co-principal investigators, respectively.
The CALCTC’s project will likely increase long-term complete remissions, decrease late effects and secondary cancers, reduce health care expenditures and provide a strategy for similar targeted cell based therapy strategies for children, adolescents, and young adults with lymphomas and other similar malignancies.
Dr. Cairo reports that this research will promote the use of targeted cellular therapy for children and adolescents with relapsed/refractory and poor risk lymphoma. This type of research is on the cutting edge of cellular therapy for children and adolescents with lymphoma.
This grant is named for Markit, a leading global financial information services company and a St. Baldrick’s corporate partner, whose 24-hour head-shaving events worldwide have raised more than $2.2 million since 2007 to fund lifesaving research through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
“At Markit our charitable focus is on creating futures. Each year, our global team raises funds in support of St Baldrick’s because of the great difference the charity makes. It is a great honor to help St. Baldrick’s and the New York Medical College in finding cures for childhood cancers,” said Will Meldrum, managing director and head of corporate development at Markit.
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 $152 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.
About New York Medical College
Founded in 1860, NYMC is one of the oldest and largest health sciences universities in the country with more than 1,400 students, 1,300 residents and clinical fellows, nearly 3,000 faculty members, and 15,000 living alumni. The College, which joined the Touro College and University System in 2011, is located in Westchester County, New York, and offers advanced degrees from the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences, and the School of Health Sciences and Practice. The College manages more than $36 million in research and other sponsored programs, notably in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, kidney disease, the neurosciences, disaster medicine, and vaccine development.
With a network of affiliated hospitals that includes large urban medical centers, small suburban clinics and high-tech regional tertiary care facilities, NYMC provides a wide variety of clinical training opportunities throughout the tri-state region for medical students, residents, and other health providers.