ATLANTA (Aug. 7, 2017) – The Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta announces a $6 million gift commitment from CURE Childhood Cancer to support the development of the center's new Precision Medicine Program, fellowship program and 10 childhood cancer research projects.
Over the next three years, $4.5 million of CURE’s gift will go toward the development of the Precision Medicine Program, which will provide personalized, cancer therapies for children. Through the systematic implementation of integrated, comprehensive tumor profiling and development of novel strategies to identify individual tumors’ vulnerabilities, the program will provide state-of-the-art care for children with the highest risk tumors.
“We are so grateful to CURE for this generous gift and their continued support of our patients and researchers as we work to develop new treatments for childhood cancer,” said Douglas K. Graham, MD, PhD, Director of the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, who will lead the Precision Medicine Program. “Our hope is that we will be able to share the treatments and protocols developed through our program with centers around the country as our new approaches are adopted elsewhere.”
In addition to the Precision Medicine Program initiative, nearly $1 million of the gift will fund research projects from 10 investigators at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center who will explore new treatments for childhood cancers, including neuroblastoma, leukemia and medulloblastoma.
“We are very excited to grow our long-standing relationship with the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center by fully funding the new Precision Medicine Program,” said Kristin Connor, Executive Director at CURE Childhood Cancer. “CURE’s mission is to drive innovative childhood cancer research that will move the needle closer to therapies with fewer side effects for children with cancer and, eventually, cures. We believe bringing precision medicine capabilities to Atlanta is a very important step in advancing our mission.”
The remaining $500,000 of CURE’s gift commitment will be used to fund two fellowships, as well as CURE’s fellowship endowment, and family emergency funds to support families who may be struggling to pay for housing or basic necessities while their child is being treated.