$6 million PBTF award establishes pediatric brain tumor institute at Duke
DURHAM, N.C. -- A $6 million award from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF) will establish and fund a new institute at Duke’s Comprehensive Cancer Center that will be devoted exclusively to pediatric brain tumor research.
The primary goal of the new Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institute at Duke will be to develop innovative and less invasive clinical treatments for children diagnosed with brain tumors. The 20-year-old Foundation, based in Asheville, N.C., is the largest non-governmental source of funding for pediatric brain tumor research in the world. The $6 million award is both the largest foundation gift ever received by the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Foundation's largest grant.
"This award from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation will allow our researchers to aggressively pursue their studies to establish better treatment and care of children with brain tumors," said Ralph Snyderman, M.D., chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of the Duke University Health System. "The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation has had a long and extraordinarily supportive relationship with Duke, and we are extremely grateful for their confidence in us and for their outstanding work to fight pediatric brain tumors."
Brain tumors are the most deadly of all childhood cancers. While about 60 percent of children with brain tumors survive at least five years from the time of diagnosis, this figure has improved only slightly in the past 25 years. Current treatment is often toxic to the normal brain, and survivors often have significant problems in brain and spinal cord function. But research has yielded innovative treatment possibilities, including new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Darell Bigner, M.D., Ph.D., the Edwin L. Jones Jr. and Lucille Finch Jones Cancer Research Professor and deputy director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been named director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institute at Duke.
"This gift will make a significant impact on our ability to continue our research and care in the most effective manner," said Bigner. "The creation of this Institute will provide us with the means to continue this fight against pediatric brain tumors and to make critical progress."
"The PBTF feels that our long-term commitment of time and resources to pediatric brain tumor research and to collaborations between researchers and institutions will fast-forward discoveries about pediatric brain tumors", said Dianne Traynor, Director of Research Funding and Advocacy for the Foundation.
