FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2023
Contacts: Monica Taylor, 210-450-8970, taylorm1@uthscsa.edu, Eileen Teves, 210-450-7239, tevese@uthscsa.edu
UT Health San Antonio has half a million more reasons to continue its fight against the disease during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
WHAT: In the United States, 43 children are diagnosed with cancer every day. To help in the fight against it, Hyundai Hope on Wheels® is presenting two grants totaling $500,000 to The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) for pediatric cancer research. Gail Tomlinson, MD, PhD, division director of pediatric hematology-oncology at UT Health San Antonio will receive a $400,000 Hyundai Hope Scholar Grant Award to study new mechanisms for treating liver tumors including those resistant to conventional therapies. A $100,000 Hyundai Impact Grant Award will be presented to Tomlinson’s genetics team in the division of pediatric oncology to expand the availability of genetic testing at University Hospital’s pediatric clinic.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 26, 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: UT Health San Antonio’s Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, 8403 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229
WHO: Children with cancer and their families, Hyundai Hope on Wheels® grant award recipient, Gail Tomlinson, MD, PhD, and Hyundai Motor America representatives
VISUALS: During the event, children who are battling cancer and their families will participate in a Handprint Ceremony, in which they dip their hands in finger paint and place their handprints on a Hyundai vehicle to represent the many hands involved in the fight against pediatric cancer – patients, researchers, doctors, parents, supporters and more – and each has a part of the fight.
NOTES: – With the latest grants, UT Health San Antonio has received more than $2.1 million in total grants since 2007 from Hyundai Hope on Wheels®.
– Tomlinson is a physician-scientist, studying hepatoblastoma and other aggressive liver tumors in children. She sees patients at the South Texas Pediatric Blood Disorders and Cancer Center at University Hospital. This treatment center is a clinical partnership of UT Health San Antonio and University Health.
– September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a month dedicated to increasing awareness of pediatric cancer and to raise funds for research. Pediatric cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 14. Worldwide, about 400,000 children and adolescents develop cancer each year, only half of whom are diagnosed.
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