Promising Young Scientist Receives National Award

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC)
Monday, 16 April 2001

Research in Pediatric Brain Tumors Yields $5000 Prize

(Memphis, Tennessee, April 16, 2001) St. Jude Children's Research Hospitalâ physician and researcher Cynthia Wetmore, M.D., Ph.D., will receive the second annual Peter A. Steck Memorial Award Friday, April 20, at Houston's M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. In addition to receiving a $5000 prize, Wetmore will make a presentation on her work involving pediatric brain tumors. The Peter A. Steck Memorial Award is given in honor of the late Dr. Steck, a leader in brain tumor research. This national award recognizes scientific excellence by a young investigator in a research area relevant to cancer of the central nervous system.

Wetmore is serving a dual appointment at St. Jude where she has worked since 1997. She is a clinical fellow in the hematology-oncology department treating patients with all types of cancer, including brain tumors, and she has a post-doctoral appointment in the laboratory of Tom Curran, Ph.D., in the department of developmental neurobiology.

Wetmore has accepted a faculty position, effective July 2001, as assistant professor at the Mayo Clinic and Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota, where she will continue her laboratory investigation and treatment of children with brain tumors.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tenn., was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas. The hospital is an internationally recognized biomedical research center dedicated to finding cures for catastrophic diseases of childhood. The hospital's work is supported through funds raised by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charitiesâ (ALSACâ ). All St. Jude Hospital patients are treated regardless of their family's ability to pay. ALSAC covers all costs of treatment beyond those reimbursed by third party insurers, and total costs for families who have no insurance.

For more information, or to contact St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC), see their website at: www.stjude.org