Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and the UCLA Children’s Discovery and Innovation Institute have received a one-year, $50,000 grant from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven and donor-centered charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research.
The grant will support research staff with expertise in implementing clinical trial participation for teens and young adults with cancer who are inpatients at the hospital.
Studies have shown that outcomes for this group of patients are much lower than for young children and older adults, partly because their disease is misdiagnosed or diagnosed late. Once diagnosed, many received inconsistent care. Relatively low numbers of patients in this age group participate in oncology-related clinical trials, compared to children and older adults.
This funding will allow researchers to develop and implement best practices for the clinical management, treatment and survivorship care of teens and young adults with cancer so that their quality of life outcomes can be enhanced.
“We are tremendously appreciative of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, its donors and volunteers for the support we have received for research,” said Dr. Theodore B. Moore, chief and clinical director of pediatric hematology-oncology and director of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at UCLA. “As we move to build our program for adolescents and young adults, this support will provide increasing access to state-of-the-art clinical trials that bring with them the hope of improving care and finding a cure for cancer.”
