NYMC Names Three Laboratories in Honor of the Children’s Cancer Fund

The ceremony united institutional leaders, researchers, and supporters to honor a collaboration that has transformed pediatric oncology research since 1993—marking more than three decades of partnership, progress in the fight against childhood cancer and blood diseases. The Fund has raised more than $10 million in support of pediatric cancer research since its inception.

“Whatever causes cancer, we’re committed to doing something about it—that’s why the Children’s Cancer Fund is here,” said Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer. “I’m grateful to the Foundation and to everyone whose support makes this work possible.”

"Our work is no longer about just curing cancer, it's about curing it better and preventing long-term problems," said Karen Wolownik, MSN, RN, CPNP, CPHON, president of the Children’s Cancer Fund. "It's about ensuring that when a child survives cancer that they really are able to truly live the rest of their lives. That is the responsibility that we carry forward as clinicians, as scientists, as donors and as partners."

Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., professor of pediatrics, cell biology and anatomy, medicine, and of pathology, microbiology, and immunology, vice chair of pediatrics, chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant at NYMC, and principal investigator of the Children’s Cancer Fund Research Laboratory, expressed gratitude to the Children's Cancer Fund for their support across several of his research areas, including cytomegalovirus and adenovirus treatment, pediatric immunotherapy for solid tumors, new treatment strategies for osteosarcoma, and targeted therapy for children, adolescents, and young adults with lymphomas and acute myeloid leukemia.

He also reflected on where children's cancer research survival rates were when he started his career — at just 20 to 30 percent, a figure now rapidly approaching 85 percent. "This was devastating,” he said. “A lot of them we were just providing palliative care to, but we each independently had a vision that is not only increasing the cure rate but finding ways of curing patients and helping their families in a gentle and more humanitarian way so that they can live their 90-year span — hopefully longer in time — without late effects and being in the hospital all the time."

Dr. Cairo shared key research updates in immunotherapy, stem cell transplantation, and cellular regeneration research and the laboratory’s long-term vision. His lab will be one of six centers nationwide to administer universal donor derived allogenic CD33 CAR NK cells, which will be a first in children, adolescent and adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia. His lab identified novel targets in acute myeloid leukemia and is developing CAR and NK cell therapies directed against those targets, with ongoing work to optimize NK cell function and efficacy.

Together, NYMC and the Children’s Cancer Fund continue to shape a future where every child with cancer has the chance to thrive —advancing research, improving treatments, and offering hope to families who need it most.
 
View the video of the ceremony and other NYMC events available on the NYMC YouTube channel.