Pediatric Cancer Research Receives a Boost During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Raya Saab, MD, a pediatric oncologist and renowned solid tumor researcher at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, has been awarded a $400,000 Hyundai Scholar Hope Grant from Hyundai Hope on Wheels, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting pediatric cancer research. The grant will support Dr. Saab’s research on CD147, a glycoprotein involved in tumor development and progression, aimed at discovering more effective treatments.

Dr. Saab, who is also the Lindhard Family Professor of Pediatric Cancer Biology at the Stanford School of Medicine, accepted the award during a check presentation ceremony on September 24 at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, the center of the Stanford Children’s Network. The event was attended by hospital leadership, representatives from Hyundai Motor America, and pediatric cancer survivor Tyler and his family.

“I’m really excited about the investigator Hyundai Hope on Wheels is supporting this year,” said Tanja Gruber, MD, PhD, the Chambers Family Endowed Professor for Pediatric Cancer and division chief of pediatric hematology, oncology, stem cell transplantation, and regenerative medicine.

Dr. Gruber explained, “Dr. Saab focuses on solid tumors, in particular soft-tissue sarcomas, and right now we’re not curing all of our patients with soft-tissue sarcomas. One of toughest things about these patients is metastatic disease, which is when the tumors spread throughout the body. So, understanding and being able to target metastatic disease is really crucial. Dr. Saab’s research is filling a void in our current knowledge and has a lot of potential to translate into better treatments for kids.”

One of Dr. Saab’s patients, Tyler, 19, was diagnosed with a malignant germ cell tumor during his senior year at Gilroy High School. He feared that illness would put a stop to his football career.

He told those gathered, “Your donations to cancer researchers who develop new treatments have helped me not only beat cancer but also return to playing football only six months after remission. I sat in a hospital bed for five months, dreaming of being able to play football again, and now here I am, living out my dreams that seemed so far away.”

Supporters and family members then cheered as Tyler left colorful imprints of his hands on a vehicle, symbolizing hope and progress in the fight against childhood cancer.

The check presentation and handprint ceremony are held every year in September during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, which is dedicated to increasing awareness of pediatric cancer and raising funds for research.

“My time in the hospital opened me up to how many other teenagers and children there were, just like me, that had their goals derailed by cancer,” said Tyler. “We put our lives in the hands of teams such as Dr. Saab’s to ensure that eventually we’d be able to return to some kind of normal.”

With this latest grant, Packard Children’s Hospital has received nearly $5.5 million for pediatric cancer research since 2004 from Hyundai Hope on Wheels.

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