St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

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Main building of St. Jude's

The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a world-renowned and leading hospital for malignancies , especially acute leukemia , in children. It was founded in Memphis , Tennessee in 1962 by a foundation initiated by the actor and comedian Danny Thomas . Many groundbreaking therapeutic studies on childhood cancer have been conducted at St. Jude's .

Founding history

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was founded on February 4, 1962 by Danny Thomas. The building was designed by the architect Paul R. Williams . The name refers to the Christian saint Judas Thaddäus , who is considered a patron saint and helper in desperate life situations and apparently hopeless situations. Danny Thomas had found himself in such a personal life situation at an earlier stage in his life and at that time he called St. Jude Thaddäus for help. He felt this call for help was heard and he rose from a small nightclub entertainer to a well-known television entertainer, whose show "Make Room for Daddy" between 1953 and 1964 was a national success. As a thank you for this help, he decided to set up a foundation to help children with cancer, who at the time were also in a largely hopeless situation when they were diagnosed. In 1957 he founded the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC; American Syrian-Lebanese Charity), which served as a fundraising organization. In 1962, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis (Tennessee) was opened from the collected donations. Danny Thomas originally thought of founding in Chicago , but was convinced that good children's hospitals already existed there, while the southern states still had great need for them.

The first decade

St. Jude's started in 1962 with an annual budget of US $ 1 million and 125 employees. Donald Pinkel became the first director of St. Jude's . In the first decade, treatment and research efforts focused largely on acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common malignant disease in childhood. The cure rates for ALL in children in the early 1960s were around 5–10%. The greatest achievement at St. Jude's was the initiation of large multi-center therapy studies (the Total Therapy Studies), in which certain therapy elements were systematically tried out and scientifically evaluated. There were considerable difficulties to be overcome. CNS relapses were a major problem and could ultimately be largely managed through the introduction of CNS radiation and intrathecal chemotherapy. Furthermore, the widespread therapeutic pessimism had to be overcome. Many paediatricians were reluctant to expect the sick children to undergo severe toxic therapies, as these would only prolong their suffering. There were also setbacks in various therapies. However, the survival rate of children with ALL was already 50% in the early 1970s. St. Jude's also became the model for similar large-scale therapy studies, particularly in Germany, which began in the 1970s.

Todays situation

Today St. Jude's has an annual budget of US $ 400 million and 3,400 employees. The facility is still organized non-commercially. Children whose parents or their insurance company cannot afford the very expensive treatment are treated free of charge. This, too, is an exceptional situation in the US healthcare system . The enormous costs can only be raised through numerous donation campaigns. St. Jude's is regularly ranked among the best of its kind. In 1996, Peter Doherty , who conducted research at St. Jude's, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his research on the immune system.

Previous directors

Web links

Commons : St. Jude Children's Research Hospital  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ St. Jude on the pages of the Paul R. Williams Project .
  2. ^ Danny Thomas and St. Jude. The National Shrine of St. Jude's, 2011, accessed March 30, 2011 .
  3. ↑ St. Jude Through the Years - The Early Years. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, accessed March 30, 2011 .
  4. ↑ St. Jude Through the Years - The Present. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, accessed March 30, 2011 .
  5. ↑ St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. US News, accessed March 30, 2011 .

Coordinates: 35 ° 9 ′ 10.5 ″  N , 90 ° 2 ′ 35 ″  W.