As National Cancer Survivors Day approaches, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has clinicians and researchers available to discuss pediatric cancer survivorship
Increased childhood cancer survival rates are one of the most significant successes in the fight against cancer in the past three decades. Today, one in 680 U.S. adults is a childhood cancer survivor. On Sunday, June 2, National Cancer Survivors Day will celebrate their victory.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has led development of childhood cancer survivorship clinical care and research programs. As cancer treatments have become more successful, gathering long-term data on cancer survivors has become more important to improve their health and quality of life. Understanding the lasting effects of childhood cancer and its treatments helps researchers design new treatments to help future generations of patients and to improve the quality of life of today’s survivors. St. Jude has developed programs to follow survivors for decades after treatment. Those programs include the following:
After Completion of Therapy (ACT) ClinicThe St. Jude ACT Clinic addresses the medical and psychosocial needs of childhood cancer survivors treated at St. Jude. Along with annual evaluations for cancer-related late effects by a thorough risk-based assessment, counseling is provided to enhance awareness of health risks following cancer treatment and preventive measures to reduce risk.
Alumnus ProgramThe St. Jude Alumnus Program office provides supportive services for long-term survivors treated at St. Jude who have graduated from clinical follow-up. This program offers education for alumni survivors about cancer-related health risks, risk-reduction strategies and survivor advocacy resources.
St. Jude Lifetime Cohort StudySt. Jude LIFE is an unprecedented program bringing back long-term survivors to St. Jude, the site of their original treatment, for regular clinical follow-up throughout their adult lives. One of the most significant undertakings in survivorship research in the world, the study actively monitors more than 2,400 adult survivors.
The Childhood Cancer Survivor StudySt. Jude leads the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), a multi-institutional effort that represents the world’s single largest source of survivorship research data. The study is amassing information from more than 22,000 five-year survivors of childhood cancer diagnosed between 1970 and 1999, including thousands treated at St. Jude.
Survivorship experts and survivors available:• Melissa Hudson, M.D., is the director of the Cancer Survivorship Division and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at St. Jude. She is also principal investigator of St. Jude LIFE. Hudson co-chaired a task force that made the St. Jude ACT clinic’s findingsan integral part of national guidelines for screening and managing the late effects of pediatric cancer treatment.• Les Robison, Ph.D., is chair of the St. Jude Epidemiology and Cancer Control Department and associate director of its Cancer Prevention and Control program. Robison is an expert in the epidemiology and etiology of childhood cancer, cancer survivorship, cancer outcomes research, and clinical trials in cancer prevention and control. He is also a principal investigator for the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.• Childhood cancer survivor interviews available upon request.
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