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appeared 7 April 1999
UCSF Among Nine Medical Centers Chosen for
NCI's Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium
UCSF has been named one of nine academic research medical centers to form the Pediatric
Brain Tumor Consortium sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The network is
intended to speed the development of innovative, technically challenging therapies for
children with brain malignancies.
The NCI will provide $2 million a year for five years to fund the consortium as the nine
centers work together to conceive, develop and carry out pilot studies and early trials of
promising new therapies.
While childhood brain tumors are rare, they have surpassed acute lymphoblastic leukemia as
the most common cause of cancer deaths among children. And while approximately 60 percent
of children with brain tumors survive at least five years, this figure has improved only
slightly in the past quarter century.
However, new treatment possibilities are emerging for childhood brain tumors, said NCI
director Richard Klausner. "The Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium will be able to take
advantage of these opportunities and by rapidly identifying and evaluating novel
treatments, expedite progress toward our ultimate goal, which is improved outcomes for
children with brain malignancies," Klausner said.
Neuro-oncologist Michael Prados is principal investigator of the consortium site at UCSF;
he also leads the NCI's North American Brain Tumor Consortium, a group of eight centers
that for six years has been exploring innovative therapies for adults with brain tumors.
"The lesson we've learned from that experience is that we can bring together
multidisciplinary teams in institutions of excellence with a common interest in developing
strategies to cure brain tumors," Prados said.
In addition to UCSF, the other members of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium are: Baylor
College of Medicine, Houston; The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Children's Hospital
of Pittsburgh; Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle; Children's
National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Duke
University Medical Center, Durham and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis.
Links:
UCSF press release
UCSF Cancer Center - Prados
profile
National Cancer Institute
Source: Janet Basu, News Services |
