News Release

Children's Hospital Los Angeles oncologist receives $50,000 Hyundai Scholar Award

Representatives from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and childhood cancer patients will together take part in the Hope on Wheels Handprint Ceremony

Grant and Award Announcement

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Robert J. Brown, Children's Hospital Los Angeles

image: Robert J. Brown is an oncologist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. view more 

Credit: Photo courtesy of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Representatives from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and childhood cancer patients will together take part in the Hope on Wheels (TM) Handprint Ceremony. They will dip their hands in fingerpaint and apply colorful handprints to a white Hyundai Santa Fe. The car, which is covered in children's handprints from all over the country, is the symbol of Hyundai Hope on Wheels (TM).

The current 80 percent overall cure rate means that in the general population of young adults, 1 in 500 will be a survivor of childhood cancer. Unfortunately, many of these survivors will suffer long-term effects related to their cancer therapy. Chronic illnesses and decreased life expectancies result from damage to their brains, lungs, hearts or kidneys in addition to their increased risk of secondary cancers. One of the more harmful but effective cancer therapies is radiation. Differing from surgery and most types of chemotherapy where damage sustained is immediate, the effects of radiation are progressive and lifelong.

When part of the body is irradiated, the immune system immediately responds by trying to repair the tissue and DNA. Yet when the injury is repaired, the wound-healing mechanism fails to turn off. This unregulated process results in organ damage and other negative health effects. Dr Brown will work to unravel the mechanisms of this injury in order to halt it. The research funded by this grant will allow him to develop models for investigating the role of the immune system while also providing an opportunity for him to study the effects of radiation on patients.

Hope on Wheels(TM) is the united effort of all 780 Hyundai dealers across the US to raise awareness about childhood cancer and celebrate the lives of children battling the disease. Hyundai Motor America is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea.

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The Saban Research Institute at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is among the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States, with 100 investigators at work on 186 laboratory studies, clinical trials and community-based research and health services. The Saban Research Institute is ranked eighth in National Institutes of Health funding among children's hospitals in the United States.

Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is one of the nation's leading children's hospitals and is acknowledged worldwide for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is one of only seven children's hospitals in the nation – and the only children's hospital on the West Coast – ranked for two consecutive years in all 10 pediatric specialties in the U.S. News & World Report rankings and named to the magazine's "Honor Roll" of children's hospitals.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is a premier teaching hospital and has been affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932.


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