St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, the St Jude Children's Research Hospital had a mission to find cures for children with cancer and other serious diseases through treatment and research. St Jude has 78 inpatient beds and treats more than 230 patients every day. It is the only pediatric cancer research in U.S.
One of the most distinguishing features of St Judge Children's Research Hospitals is that it is the only pediatric cancer research center where families do not have to pay for treatment not covered by insurance. The unique feature of the center is that treatment is not denied to any child because of the inability of the family to pay. Research findings of St Jude are shared freely throughout the world among doctors and scientists. In 2010 alone, the medical and research staff published upward of 680 articles in academic journals. The articles are deemed to of a high standard by established publication houses.
St. Jude has developed protocols that have augmented the survival rate of cancer-affected children from 20% in 1962 when it was opened, to 80% as of today. In 1962,survival rate for the deadly disease of acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the most common forms of cancer of children was a mere 4% .With research and treatment protocols developed by St Jude, the survival rate today stands at 94%.
St Jude had an expansion program recently completed that has augmented the center's research activities. The campus of St. Jude has at present 2.5 million square feet of research, clinical and administrative space. In late 2007 The Child Care Center CT (computerized tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) facilities were established. Also a state the art Cyclotron was installed for research. These imaging techniques have helped the center to attain new heights. The daily operating cost of St Jude Research Center is around 1.7 million dollars, which is primarily covered by public contributions.
Purpose
St Jude Children's Hospital at Memphis Tennessee is deemed as one of the leading pediatric cancer research centers in the world. Its objective is to find cures for cancer affected children and other catastrophic ailments through treatment and research.
The current clinical research at St Jude center consists of work in many fields as summarised below.
- Gene therapy
- Bone marrow transplant
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation treatment
- Resistance to therapy
- Hereditary diseases
- Viruses
- Pediatric aids
- Psychological aspects of critical illnesses
St Jude also conducts bio-statistical investigations on patients on a long-term basis. The pediatric research hospital has received a National Cancer Institute cancer support grant. The mission of the St Jude Children's Research hospital is to improve survival rate of children with cancer and other deadly diseases throughout the world by sharing of knowledge, technology and organizational ability. There are at present 20 official partner sites in 15 different countries across the globe. Medical institutions which are partners to St Jude Research Center are helped through evidence-based protocols for treatment of children with cancer and other serious diseases. Physicians at St Jude played a role of mentors to physicians at the partner sites. They hold consultations in difficult cases.
St. Jude Hospital Staff train nurses for best clinical care practices, who in turn serve at hospitals across the country. They also work with pathologist for accurate diagnosis of cases. It is one of the missions of St Jude Children's Cancer Center that it shares research freely with doctors and scientists through the world. It is through such consultation that a premier organization like St Jude can be of help to other institutions.
One mission of St Jude is not to charge families for treatment not covered by insurance. One of the principals of the institute is not to deny any child treatment even if the family is unable to foot the bill. With International Outreach program, St Jude Center attempts to improve children's survival rate worldwide through sharing of knowledge, technology and organizational improvement.
History
The history of St Jude children's research hospital dates back to 1962. It was founded by Danny Thomas an entertainer who was helped by Dr Lemuel Driggs. The aim of the research hospital was that children should never suffer and face death just when they are starting out in life. The hospital was named after Saint Jude Thaddeus, the catholic patron saint of hospitals and lost causes. Danny Thomas founded the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities or ALSAC in 1957. The ALASC acts as a fundraiser for the research hospital, taking on the responsibility since the inception of St, Jude in 1962 in Memphis.
In late 2007, Chilis Care Center was opened on the campus of St Jude. 50 million dollars were pledged by a restaurant of Chile to provide funds for construction of the center. The Chili's Care Center integrates patient care and research. It has computerized tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) facilities making St Jude's center well advanced in diagnostic field. In addition, there exists a state of art Cyclotron to enable many important positions and emission tomography (PET) studies to be made. With these techniques, many new therapeutic approaches can be made.
Dr. Peter C Doharty of St Jude's Department of Immunology won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1996 along with Rolf. M. Zinkemagel M.D of University of Zurich. Their research findings let to a breakthrough in treatment of viral infections and cancer. St Jude was the first institution to develop a cure for sickle cell disease with bone marrow transplantation. St Jude had one of the largest pediatric sickle cell programs in USA.
St. Jude is a collaborating center for World Health Organization's studies on ecology of influenza, virus ecology in birds and animals. St Jude had a breakthrough when it was deemed as the only institution outside the National Institute of Health to receive federal approval for research on human gene therapy.
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