Conducting Critical Research for Pediatric Cancer
About Our Research
Over 30 leading children’s hospitals across the United States have joined the Sunshine Project Consortium because they believe in our singular mission: to find more effective and less toxic treatments for childhood cancer. The Sunshine Project has a 15-year track record of conducting novel treatment trials for children whose cancers were not curable by standard treatments. We now find ourselves at a critical juncture: it is clear that childhood cancer is too complex to expect one new treatment to cure all patients, or even to cure all patients with certain cancer types.
To overcome this hurdle, the Sunshine Project has launched a multipronged assault on childhood cancer from many angles. To find better, less toxic cures, we must:
- Better understand the different types of cancer affecting children so we can exploit their weaknesses.
- Accelerate the development of novel therapies that can be effective across multiple cancer types.
- Understand the best way to use these new treatments alongside existing treatments in intelligently designed strategies to cure patients.
- Recognize that novel, “out of the box” approaches to cancer treatment can come from a variety of sources, including hospitals, biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies, universities (including ideas generated inside and outside of health sciences departments), and others both within and outside of the United States.
To this end, the Sunshine Project has created research task forces comprised of leading clinicians, scientists, and young investigators to focus on these difficult to solve problems. Each task force is centered around a specific type of childhood cancer or a specific treatment domain and is charged with performing the best research that most rapidly moves new therapy strategies into clinical trials. Our philosophy openly welcomes new partnerships, whether children’s hospitals looking to join the Sunshine Project or academic or industry partnerships both within and outside the United States.
– Jonathan Metts, MD & Matteo Trucco, MD, Vice-Chairs of the Sunshine Project
The Sunshine Project™ Governance
Damon Reed, MD
Chief Science Officer
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Jonathan Metts, MD
Sunshine Project Co-Chair
Moffitt Cancer Center
Matteo Trucco, MD
Sunshine Project Co-Chair
Cleveland Clinic
Jessica Crimella, RN, BSN, CCRP
Sunshine Project Lead
Moffitt Cancer Center
Lars M. Wagner, MD
Executive Council, Protocol Committee Co-Chair
Duke Children’s Hospital
Michael Isakoff, MD
Protocol Committee Co-Chair
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center
Task Force Leaders
Scott Borinstein, MD, PhD
Executive Council, Novel Initiatives Task Force Leader
Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt
Mas Hayashi, MD
Osteosarcoma Task Force Leader
Children’s Hospital of Colorado
Eugene Hwang, MD
Central Nervous System (CNS) Task Force Leader
Children's National Medical Center
Trish Larkin, MD
Executive Council, Novel Initiatives Task Force Leader
St Joseph’s Hospital
Dean Lee, MD
Immunotherapy Task Force Leader
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Bhuvana Setty, MD
Ewing's Sarcoma Task Force Leader, Sunshine Project Site PI
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Elizabeth A. Stewart, MD
Rhabdomyosarcoma Task Force Leader
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Daniel A. Weiser, MD
Executive Council, Novel Initiatives Task Force Leader
Children’s Hospital at Montefiore
All Principal Investigators & Researchers
Jonathan Metts, MD
Sunshine Project Co-Chair
Moffitt Cancer Center
Anderson Collier, MD
Sunshine Project Site PI, Researcher
Nemours Children's Health, Jacksonville
Matthew Dietz, DO, MSED
Sunshine Project Site PI
Primary Children's Hospital
Mallery Olsen, MD
Sunshine Project Site PI, Researcher
Phoenix Children's Hospital
Jenna Gedminas, MD
Sunshine Project Site PI, Researcher
University of Iowa
Aditi Dhir, MD
Sunshine Project Site PI
University of Miami
Elizabeth Alva, MD, MSPH
Sunshine Project Site PI
University of Alabama-Birmingham
Ajay Gupta, MD, MS
Sunshine Project Site PI, Researcher
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Learn More About Our Research
Our Mission
National Pediatric Cancer Foundation (NPCF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding research to eliminate childhood cancer.
Top Rated Charity
The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation has received a perfect 100% score for financial health and transparency and is the top-rated childhood cancer charity in the United States by Charity Navigator.
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