Addition extends access to clinical trials at St. Jude to children beyond its physical walls through clinical, research and academic affiliations with medical centers in six states.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has added a new affiliate clinic, making it the seventh within its affiliate program. Named the St. Jude Affiliate Clinic at Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital, the clinic is located in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The St. Jude Affiliate Program’s goals are to provide components of St. Jude treatment closer to home for patients and families; to increase the number of children able to be enrolled on St. Jude clinical trials, often providing access to novel therapeutic approaches; to ensure that excellent clinical care is available to a large number of children in the affiliate regions; and to increase knowledge about the biology of cancer and study newer forms of targeted therapies more broadly and in a more rapid manner.
“Our affiliate program is meant to provide world-class care for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases in a broad region of the United States,” said Larry Kun, M.D., clinical director and executive vice president at St. Jude. “The program provides an opportunity for St. Jude to share care of children, to enable children to enjoy some of the opportunities that are uniquely available at St. Jude and to enjoy outstanding care in hematology and oncology at a regional center close to home for these families.”
The affiliate program was informally launched in 1972—just 10 years after the hospital opened—and formalized in the 1990s. Physicians and staff at these sites work in collaboration with St. Jude faculty and staff to deliver clinical trial-related care to pediatric hematology and oncology patients.
Along with the St. Jude Affiliate Clinic at Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital, St. Jude has affiliate clinics in Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri. The affiliates enlarge the impact of St. Jude and provide a resource for both patient availability for clinical trials and extension of the hospital’s unique clinical care model.
“Collaboration is essential for fueling progress in science and medicine,” said James R. Downing, M.D., St. Jude president and chief executive officer. “With this expansion of the affiliate program, we will be able to provide lifesaving treatments to more children and advance the fight against childhood catastrophic diseases.”
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and cures childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments developed at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to 80% since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. To learn more, visit stjude.org or follow St. Jude on social media at @stjuderesearch.