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Your Voice Matters: $6.5 Million in Funding for Cancers in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults
By Dean Crowe
They say it takes a village. Thank you all for being our village.
You called the U.S. Congressional Offices of the DoD Subcommittee Members asking for specific research funding for cancers in children, adolescents and young adults.
You signed the letter of support. You visited and wrote personal emails to those offices as cancer fighters, survivors, caretakers, researchers and advocates. You shared your stories. You applied for grants. You served as consumer reviewers. And your voice mattered.
It’s hard to put into words how much your collective voices matter, so we’ll put it into numbers instead. At the end of September, $6.5 million was awarded for 11 research grants for cancers in children, adolescents and young adults from the Department of Defense Cancer Peer Review Program. This brings the total awarded in two years to $9.8 million dollars.
We are humbled, we are inspired, and we are grateful. Because of you, that $6.5 million will help us further our mission of finding better treatments with fewer long-term side effects. You truly are our village, and we thank you.
Congratulations to the researchers who were awarded a grant.
| PI | Hospital | Title | Type | Amount |
| Natalie Boehnke | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Leveraging Rational Nanoparticle Design for Improved Treatment of Pediatric and Adolescent Cancers (Sarcomas and Blasomas) | Horizon Award | $155,000 |
| Rikhia Chaudhury Chakraborty | Baylor College of Medicine | Therapeutic Targeting of Immune Dysfunction in Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis | Career Development Award | $577,246 |
| Carri Geer | Novan, Inc. | Topical Nitric Oxide Therapy to Treat Cervical Neoplasias and Prevent HPV-Associated Cancers | Impact Award | $1,215,182 |
| Andrew Hong | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute | Functional Interrogation of Nuclear Export Inhibition in SMARCB1-Deficient Cancers (Sarcomas) | Career Development Award | $633,993 |
| Liesl Lawrence | University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio | Transcription, R-Loops, and RNA Splicing in Ewing Sarcoma | Horizon Award | $220,350 |
| Miguel Miranda-Roman | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | Overcoming Resistance to MEK Inhibitor Treatment in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor (MPNST) | Horizon Award | $264,375 |
| Caitlin Murphy | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas | Fertility and Reproductive Outcomes of Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors in Texas | Career Development Award | $580,648 |
| Christopher Porter | Emory University | Development of Bispecific, T-Cell Engaging, Cytokine-Loaded Nanoparticles (BiTEokines) for the Treatment of Childhood Cancers (Leukemias) | Idea Award with Special Focus | $624,000 |
| Mark Purdue | National Cancer Institute | An Investigation of Serum Levels of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Testicular Cancer Risk Within the Department of Defense Serum Repository | Idea Award with Special Focus | $452,604 |
| Bo Kyung A Seong | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute | Targeting Pediatric Fusion Oncoproteins via Protein Degradation (Osteosarcoma and Neroblastoma) | Horizon Award | $264,750 |
| Raymond Yeung/Venu Pillarisetty/Taran Gujral | University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center | Novel Therapeutics for Fibrolamellar Carcinoma (Children and AYA) | Translational Team Science Award | $1,539,441 |
We are thrilled that Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) who sits on the DoD Subcommittee will be our champion next year for a $30 million stand-alone program for cancers in children, adolescents and young adults.