To guarantee ongoing research support well into the future and to help the University of Minnesota recruit and retain outstanding faculty researchers, Children’s Cancer Research Fund has a long-standing commitment to establishing permanent endowments. Endowed chairs provide a constant stream of funding to keep research moving forward.
We have established the following Endowed Chairs at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center:
Children's Cancer Research Fund Land Grant Chair
Initial Value of Endowment:$1,000,000
($500,000 from Children’s Cancer Research Fund)
Endowed: 1988
Dollars available for research in FY2007: $48,175
John H. Kersey, M.D.
High-Risk Childhood Leukemia:
The MLL Gene Dr. Kersey’s research has focused on a form of high-risk childhood leukemia, the most common form of leukemia in infants under the age of 1. He has dedicated more than 20 years of research to study why this leukemia develops, how to better treat it and, eventually, how to prevent it. Dr. Kersey’s research is devoted to understanding the molecular and cellular abnormalities in blood cells that result in this leukemia; it is supported, in part, through the endowed chair.
Children's Cancer Research Fund Cancer Center Chair
Initial Value of Endowment: $1,500,000
Dollars available for research in FY2007: $76,181
Endowed: 1997
Julie A. Ross, Ph.D.
Molecular Epidemiology of Childhood Cancer
Dr. Ross is trained in both epidemiology and molecular biology and has a special interest in understanding how genes and environment may interact in both the causes and consequences of childhood cancer. In addition to new faculty recruitments, this endowed chair is partially supporting some of Dr. Ross’ work in developing transdisciplinary studies in childhood cancer, moving research from the bench to the bedside.
Lehman Family/Children's Cancer Research Fund Chair
Initial Value of Endowment: $1,500,000
Dollars available for research in FY2007: $28,200
Endowed: 2001
Brenda Weigel, M.D.
Immune-based Therapies of Childhood Solid Tumors
Dr. Weigel is conducting research on the most common pediatric soft-tissue malignancy called rhabdomyosarcoma, a tumor of the muscle tissue. She has developed new methods that are now being integrated into clinical treatment protocols to transfer cells that have anti-tumor immunologic effects in order to further improve the outcomes of immunotherapy in rhabdomyosarcoma.
Hedberg Family/Children's Cancer Research Fund Chair
Initial Value of Endowment: $1,500,000
Endowed: 2004
A national recruitment effort is underway to identify an outstanding researcher in the field of pediatric brain tumors. The successful candidate will focus on the development of novel treatments for high-risk brain tumors.
Hageboeck Family/Children's Cancer Research Fund Chair
Initial Value of Endowment: $2,000,000
Dollars available for research in FY2007: $99,643
Endowed: 2005
John Wagner, M.D.
Umbilical Cord Blood and Adult Stem Cell Research
Dr. Wagner is conducting research focused on the development of novel strategies for preventing the immunologic complications of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, namely through bone marrow graft engineering and the use of neonatal umbilical cord blood. Along with a team of researchers, his investigations also include ex vivo expansion of umbilical cord blood stem cells and use of multipotent adult progenitor cells for tissue repair after surgery and chemoradiotherapy in patients with cancer.