How A Grant Can Become A Cure

Seed grants fund research projects at their start and help scientific investigators to begin exploring and proving their theories. With little funding available, far too many approaches to finding a cure for pediatric cancer are not cultivated. Seed grants help researchers nourish and develop their theories, providing them with the groundwork necessary to become eligible for grants that will take them to the next level of funding and to the next level of discovery. Each project holds great potential to lead us to a cure and oftentimes these seed grant projects yield major breakthroughs in research.

In the first 15 years, the Pediatric Cancer Foundation focused its funding on seed grants and post doctoral fellowships. The approach the Foundation took was two-pronged, addressing two very important aspects within the field of pediatric oncology. A Scientific Advisory Board was established to provide oversight to the grant selection process and to ensure that the the most comprehensive and promising researchers received the grant awards.

By funding these grants, the Pediatric Cancer Foundation helped to fill a significant void in pediatric oncology research. While large national and international grant institutions centralized the majority of their funding to research projects that are already in advanced stages of testing, PCF focused on researchers who were beginning programs adn who faced difficulty in locating start up funds for their projects.

Post-doctoral fellows are MD’s or PhD’s, who are not yet independent investigators. In funding Post Doctoral Fellowships, the Pediatric Cancer Foundation encouraged more researchers to enter the field of pediatric oncology. The philosophy was that the more researchers we have working collectively towards a cure for childhood cancer, the greater our impact will be. They may be working in the laboratory mentored by or under the supervision of an established investigator.