April 27, 2021 – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, TN) is launching a $11.5 billion initiative over the next six years to accelerate research and treatment globally for children with catastrophic diseases.
The plan focuses on the expansion of patient care and clinical and laboratory-based research related to pediatric catastrophic illnesses, including work in cancer, blood disorders, neurological diseases and infectious diseases.
The plan calls for an additional 1,400 jobs; the expenditure of $1.9 billion in new construction, renovation and capital needs; and the development of new research areas.
St. Jude Children’s said the new plan focuses five areas: fundamental science, childhood cancer, pediatric catastrophic diseases, global impact and workforce and workplace culture.
Highlights across those areas include the following:
- St. Jude will hire nearly 70 new faculty members, plus supporting laboratory staff, to work in basic, translational and clinical research across 22 departments.
- St. Jude will invest more than $250 million to expand state-of-the-art technology and resources available to scientists and clinicians in their search to understand why pediatric catastrophic diseases arise, spread and resist treatments. These investments will include creating a Cryo-Electron Tomography Center and establishing a Center of Excellence in Advanced Microscopy
- St. Jude will invest $3.7 billion to expand cancer-focused research and related clinical care. The investments will include accelerating preclinical and clinical testing of new therapeutic agents; expanding large-scale, collaborative trials; and creating a new Translational Immunology and Immunotherapy Initiative (TI3).
- St. Jude will more than triple its investment in its international efforts coordinated through St. Jude Global and the St. Jude Global Alliance during the next six years. This represents an investment of more than $470 million.
- St. Jude will expand research and treatment programs to advance cures for childhood catastrophic diseases. The $1.1 billion investment includes work in nonmalignant diseases; a new laboratory-based research program in infectious diseases that affect children worldwide; and a new research and clinical program to better understand and treat pediatric neurological diseases.
- Expand the St. Jude Research Collaboratives program from funding five to 11 teams of scientists worldwide through a more than $100 million investment
- $1.3 billion in new construction and renovations that will include completion of The Domino’s Village, a family housing facility with one-, two- and three-bedroom units; Family Commons, a quality of life space with patient family services from school to tech support; and the Advanced Research Center—and construction of outpatient, clinical office and administrative buildings and parking garages.