Thanks to NASCAR champion and FOX Sports analyst, Jeff Gordon, and a grant from the Sohn Conference Foundation, a new program at MSK is hoping to support the identification of targeted therapies for children and provide access for the children who could benefit from these treatments. According to the organization, the Jeff Gordon & Sohn Precision Medicine Fund is “particularly important in the pediatric space because most cancer therapies are only approved for adult cancers, not childhood cancers or for use in children”, and the $200,000 grant is hoping to bring innovative treatments to these pediatric cancer patients.

Billy Rosa, an NP in Palliative Care, was a finalist for America’s Most Amazing Nurse! Billy was one of five finalists chosen from thousands of nominees as part of The Doctors and Prevention Magazine showcasing the most extraordinary nurses that go above and beyond the call of duty. Each of the five finalists received $1,000 toward their charity of choice, and the winner will be awarded an all-expense paid trip to Iceland! The winner will be announced in the June issue of Prevention Magazine.

Kathryn Ciccolini, an RN in Dermatology, presented on March 22 at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s 2017 Nursing Program, in conjunction with the NCCN’s Annual Conference. Kathryn’s presentation focused on the dermatological adverse events of cancer therapies. She described the various adverse events and treatment options, and addressed patient education of these events and collaboration of care with the rest of the team.

Erin Chack, then 20, experienced cancer déjà vu back in 2010, as she was found to be in remission and cancer free of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, her mom Joanne was several floors away at MSK that day, beginning her first round of chemo for the same diagnosis. Today both Erin and Joanne are healthy and cancer free, and finding support in one another. Erin is a senior writer at Buzzfeed and recently published a collection of essays entitled This Is Really Happening, where she also recalls the experience.

Lulu was just 47 days old when a doctor diagnosed her with Retinoblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer. It was considered a near death-sentence in her hometown of Wenzhou, China. Her parents, Ti Yang and Feifei Lin, desperate for their daughter not to experience the same fate as her father and lose her eyes to the tumor, sought a specialized treatment called intra-arterial chemotherapy to preserve the little remaining vision little Lulu had. Her parents remain hopeful that Lulu will have a productive life and be able to continue treatment in America. “Lulu’s eyes are so fragile and her vision has deteriorated so much,” her mother said. “We can’t afford taking any more risks.”