FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Baldrick’s Foundation:
Traci Johnson
Traci@stbaldricks.org
LOS ANGELES, CA (July 23, 2026) – The St. Baldrick’s Childhood Cancer Research Foundation, the largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, is proud to announce the newest round of grants totaling $10.3 million. The grants will support 28 innovative projects at 26 leading academic and research institutions with a goal to find cures and better treatments for childhood cancer.
These new grants reflect St. Baldrick’s continued commitment to investing in the most promising childhood cancer research. Supporting projects across the full spectrum of discovery — from early-stage investigations to clinical applications — this funding will help researchers pursue groundbreaking discoveries and bring new therapies closer to children facing cancer.
Grants were awarded in the following categories:
International Scholar – Awards to train researchers from low- and middle- income countries to prepare them to answer specific research questions related to childhood cancer in their home country.
Research Grant – Funding for research projects that look to find new and better cures for childhood cancer.
St. Baldrick’s Scholar – Three or more years of funding given to early career professionals who are pursuing exciting research and without funding might have to leave the field.
Grants were awarded to:
Alabama
- Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville
Extended Scholar: Le Su, Ph.D.
California
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla
Research Grant: Nan Zhu, Ph.D.
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, La Jolla
Extended International Scholar: Jehad Almaliti, Ph.D.
Colorado
- University of Colorado Anschutz and Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora
Extended Scholar: Kelly Faulk, M.D.
Connecticut
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington
St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Eric Wang, Ph.D
Georgia
- Emory University, Atlanta
Extended Scholar: Waitman Aumann, M.D.
Research Grant: Christopher Porter, M.D.
Indiana
- Indiana University School of Medicine, Bloomington
St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Jia Shen, Ph.D.
- Purdue University, West Lafayette
Research Grant: Nathaniel Mabe, Ph.D., Pharm.D.
Massachusetts
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
Research Grant: Jared Rowe, M.D., Ph.D.
Maryland
- Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda
Research Grant: Javed Khan, MD
Minnesota
- University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis
Extended Scholar: Tianzhong Yang, Ph.D.
- Mayo Clinic, Rochester
Research Grant: Michael Ruff, M.D.
North Carolina
- Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC
St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Laurie Graves, M.D.
New York
- Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca
Research Grant: Robert Weiss, Ph.D.
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Research Grant: Jaap Jan Boelens, MD PhD
Ohio
- Case Western Reserve University – School of Medicine, Cleveland
Research Grant: Yuan Gao, PhD
Pennsylvania
- Temple University, Philadelphia
Research Grant: Jorge Gomez Deza, PhD
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Christina Turn, M.D.
- The Children’s Oncology Group Foundation, Philadelphia
Douglas Hawkins, MD
South Carolina
- Prisma Health in the Midlands, Columbia
Extended Scholar: Anna Hoppmann, M.D.
Tennessee
- St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis
St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Ruth Wang’ondu, Ph.D.
Research Grant: Stephen Gottschalk, M.D.
- Vanderbilt University, Nashville
Research Grant: Ethan Lee, M.D., Ph.D.
- Vanderbilt Health, Nashville
St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Michael Robinson, M.D., MSCI
Washington
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle
Research Grant: Scott Furlan, M.D.
- Seattle Children’s, Seattle
St. Baldrick’s Scholar: Shireen Ganapathi, M.D.
- University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle
Research Grant: Eleanor Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
Since 2005, St. Baldrick’s has granted over $380 million to fund the best childhood cancer research, wherever it takes place.
The next set of grants will be announced in November, supported by donations made between now and October.
To learn more about the research these specific grants support, check out the St. Baldrick’s blog. For more information about St. Baldrick’s Foundation grants or ways to get involved, please visit StBaldricks.org.
About St. Baldrick’s Childhood Cancer Research Foundation
Every 2 minutes, a child somewhere in the world is diagnosed with cancer. In the U.S., 1 in 5 will not survive. The St. Baldrick’s Childhood Cancer Research Foundation, the largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, has awarded more than $380 million to researchers to Conquer Kids’ Cancer. When you give to St. Baldrick’s, you don’t just give to one hospital – you support every institution with the expertise to treat kids with cancer across the U.S. St. Baldrick’s ensures that children fighting cancer now — and those diagnosed in the future — will have access to the most cutting-edge treatment, by supporting every stage of research, from new ideas in the lab to the training of the next generation of researchers, to lifesaving clinical trials. St. Baldrick’s has played a role in virtually every advancement in the field over the past 25 years and remains essential in advancing progress and fostering innovation in childhood cancer research. Visit StBaldricks.org and help #ConquerKidsCancer.