Program Leadership
The overall goal of the Pediatric Cancer Program is to improve the outcome for children and adolescents with pediatric malignancies by facilitating early detection, increasing the cure rate, and decreasing acute and long-term side effects. The PCP is in a unique and desirable position with robust internal and external laboratory and clinical collaborations, coupled with the support and infrastructure of both the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Hospital. The PCP’s catchment area includes the fourth most populous and most diverse city in the United States. The PCP treats more than 90% of children with cancer in Harris County, and the demographics of those treated and enrolled into clinical trials through our Program reflect this ethnically and racially diverse population. In addition, the PCP’s research and treatment efforts have recently extended to sub-Saharan Africa, where the vast majority of children with cancer die through the Global HOPE (Hematology-Oncology Pediatric Excellence) initiative, focused on developing pediatric hematology-oncology centers of excellence in 6 African countries.
The Pediatric Program has less than 200 Institutional Review Board approved cancer related protocols including 122 clinical trials. Competitively awarded grants support our participation in the National Cancer Institute supported Children's Oncology Group and Pediatric Brain Tumor Clinical Trial Consortium. We are also members of the Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network, the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium, the Collaborative Network of Neuro-Oncology Clinical Trials Collaborative, the Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia & Lymphoma Consortium and the Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research Consortium.
