About St. Jude's Childen's Hospital
The world’s epicenter for the research and treatment of childhood catastrophic diseases.
Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude opened in 1962 for the purpose of finding cures for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Since that time, St. Jude has emerged as the world’s premier pediatric cancer research center and has raised the overall cure rate for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent to over 70 percent. St. Jude has a unique mission: to serve as a national and international resource for the medical community in the United States and around the world in the struggle against pediatric cancers and other catastrophic childhood diseases. Since its inception, the goal of St. Jude has been to develop cures that could be shared freely to benefit children around the world. When a partner, donor or volunteer supports St. Jude, they are contributing not only to St. Jude patients, but to children everywhere who benefit from St. Jude’s life-saving research.
Setting the standard for cancer research and treatment
- St. Jude has set the standard in pediatric cancer care. St. Jude was the first pediatric institution to place doctors, scientists, and patients "all under one roof," thus creating a worldwide model for "bench-to-bedside" research and treatment of cancers and other life-threatening diseases in children. These pioneering efforts were responsible for transforming acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) – one of the most common and most lethal forms of childhood cancer – into one of the most curable. The overall survival rate for childhood cancer has increased from four percent to over 70 percent today, in large measure due to St. Jude’s efforts. As the noted heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey has said, "a life saved at St. Jude represents thousands of lives saved around the world."
- St. Jude is the epicenter for national research into pediatric catastrophic diseases, leading major collaborative studies of childhood cancers, sickle cell disease, and the avian flu virus scientists fear could cause a worldwide pandemic.
- St. Jude always puts families first. No family ever pays St. Jude for medical treatment. St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center that fully pays for lodging, food, and travel for patients and their families. St. Jude invests more per pediatric patient than any other institution to provide optimum clinical care.
