The University of Iowa Dance Marathon Allocations Committee voted to approve a new, significant funding request put forth by UI Children’s Hospital leadership: $2.2 million over three years to establish the UI Dance Marathon Pediatric Oncology Targeted Therapy Program. This program and associated funding will allow UI Children’s Hospital to assemble a targeted therapies infrastructure and begin hosting phase I and phase II clinical trials for pediatric cancer patients.
This gift allows UI Children’s Hospital to treat children whose cancer has not responded to standard therapies. The approval of this request places UI Children’s Hospital among an elite group of hospitals performing these pediatric trials across the United States, such as Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The new gift will help support
- Aspects of inpatient care not covered by insurance
- Inpatient and outpatient requirements of clinical studies, including lab work and tumor profiling
- 24-hour clinical-research nursing care
- A pediatric cancer-research pharmacist
- A research-data manager
“We are able to be a part of this truly life-saving project due to the hard work and dedication of our past and current UI Dance Marathon students, our donors, external parties [alumni, community partners, UI Children’s Hospital, UI Foundation, etc.], and most importantly our Dance Marathon families that inspire us every day of the year,” says Daniel Kolb, executive director of Dance Marathon 22. “We are excited to see this motivate both participants this year and in future years to continue to go above and beyond and to reach new fundraising heights all For The Kids.”
UI Dance Marathon is one of the few dance marathon events in the nation that have student representatives on the committee to vote on where the dollars they personally fundraise are allocated.
“UI Dance Marathon students have made a huge impact on health care for Iowa’s kids through the $16.5 million raised in support of UI Children’s Hospital to date,” says Dr. Jean Robillard, UI vice president for medical affairs. “This new commitment is remarkable not only in the amount but in the tremendous positive effect it will have on children with cancer and their families, who now will be able to take advantage of the latest in clinical trials close to home at our hospital.”
UI Dance Marathon is a student-run philanthropy that creates and sustains special projects to provide emotional and financial support for pediatric-oncology and bone-marrow-transplant patients and their families treated at University of Iowa Children's Hospital.