The best of the best - St. Jude researcher receives prestigious American Cancer Society grant

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC)
Tuesday, 2 July 2002

St. Jude researcher receives prestigious American Cancer Society grant

Ching-Hon Pui, M.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, has been named an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor. Pui is the first Mid-South scientist to receive this grant, one of the American Cancer Society's most prestigious. The many scientific discoveries of Pui and his St. Jude colleagues have helped raise the cure rate of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia to 80 percent.

Clinical Research Professors are investigators who, by mid-career, have made distinguished contributions to their respective fields. The review process for the professorship is intense and rigorous.

As the F.M. Kirby Clinical Research Professor, Pui will receive $400,000 over a five-year period. The grant will facilitate Pui and his St. Jude team in their research to further improve the treatment outcomes of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer. His findings will be used not only to improve future treatment strategies of childhood leukemias but could potentially be applied to adult leukemias and other childhood cancers.

"We could not be more proud to have such an amazing scientist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital working with the American Cancer Society," said Carney Duntsch, the Memphis American Cancer Society communications director. "The American Cancer Society believes that research is the key to helping those who are suffering from this devastating disease, and we are committed to fighting cancer through research efforts like Dr. Pui's."

Currently, the American Cancer Society is contributing toward the work of four St. Jude investigators, whose research projects range from clinical oncology social work to radiation therapy for children with brain tumors.

Since 1946, the American Cancer Society has given more than $2.3 billion dollars to support cancer research at institutions across the country.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee, 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. Patient care and research are supported through funds raised by ALSAC. ALSAC covers all costs not covered by insurance for medical treatment rendered at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Families without insurance are never asked to pay.

The American Cancer Society funds researchers on the frontlines in the fight against cancer, including 32 Nobel Laureates. The organization has been involved with many of the cancer research breakthroughs of the century, including mammography, the Pap test and Tamoxifen, a revolutionary breast cancer drug. The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy and service. For more information, contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345, visit www.cancer.org, or call the midtown Memphis office at (901) 278-2000.

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