Actress Bonnie Hunt presents prestigious Pioneer Award for pediatric brain tumor and neuro-oncology research to Stewart Goldman, MD
May 14, 2009 - Actress Bonnie Hunt, mistress of ceremonies for the seventh annual Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation (CBTF) Benefit held in Manhattan, May 13, 2009, presented Stewart Goldman, MD, Children’s Memorial Hospital, with the Foundation’s Pioneer Award for outstanding contributions in pediatric neuro-oncology and brain tumor research. Goldman is medical director of neuro-oncology at Children’s Memorial, director of the Center for Clinical Trials Research for the Children’s Memorial Research Center and associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
Working collaboratively with his colleagues in neurosurgery and radiology, Goldman serves as a director of the hospital’s Falk Brain Tumor Center, one of the world’s leading centers for pediatric brain tumor diagnosis and treatment. Established in 1986, the center was one of the first of its kind in the nation to create a comprehensive multidisciplinary program, offering specialists in more than 30 pediatric and surgical subspecialties. Last year, the brain tumor team cared for more than 140 new patients and performed more than 100 surgeries.
Goldman is highly involved in clinical research aimed at developing new treatments for patients with brain tumors that could profoundly improve clinical care and subsequently increase survival rates for these patients. He has described his guiding philosophy as the treatment of children, not just their tumors. “We aren’t treating a tumor, we’re treating a child who happens to have a tumor,” reminds Goldman. “That means looking at and ensuring the overall wellbeing of the child as he/she is moving through therapies.”
Goldman is also a member of the Children’s Oncology Group CNS disease committee and is the Children’s Memorial principal investigator for the National Cancer Institute-sponsored Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium where he is a member of the consortium’s steering, scientific, new agents and angiogenesis committees. He is also the site Prinicpal Investigator for the Children’s Oncology Group Phase I Consortium.
In the summer of 2008, Goldman served as co-chair of the 13th International Symposium on Pediatric Neuro-Oncology. More than 900 neuro-oncology professionals gathered in Chicago to share research and further dialogue in brain tumor therapies.
Goldman’s publications include Child’s Nervous Systems, The Journal of Clinical Oncology and Pediatric Neurosurgery. He has published several book chapters and is currently editing Late Effects of Pediatric Cancer.
Prior to joining the staff at Children’s Memorial, Goldman was assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago’s Wyler Children’s Hospital. He received his medical degree at the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine and completed his internship and residencies at the University of Chicago’s Wyler Children’s Hospital, where he also completed a fellowship in pediatrics, hematology and oncology.
“As I meet with my patients I am overwhelmed at the courage that they reveal to me in the face of such overwhelming odds. We have to be determined to do better, because our failures are measured not in dollars, but in young lives lost,” says Goldman.
Bonnie Hunt was an oncology nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago prior to launching her career at Second City. Ms. Hunt is a versatile and accomplished writer, director, producer and an Emmy®, Golden Globe and SAG Award-nominated actress, and host/executive producer of The Bonnie Hunt Show. Steven Rosen, MD, director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, and longtime mentor of Ms. Hunt, introduced Ms. Hunt at the Benefit.
The Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation was founded in 1988 by a group of dedicated parents, physicians and friends to improve the treatment, quality of life and long-term outlook for children with brain and spinal cord tumors through research, support, education and advocacy to families and survivors. The 7th Annual Dream & Promise Gala, produced by Charlotte Simon Productions, is the signature fundraising event for Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation. Funds raised support the organization’s program and education efforts and helps fund research for treatment and progress toward cures. Each year the organization honors an individual who has advanced the vision and pushed the boundaries in the field of neuro-oncology.
Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, is recognized as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country by rankings published in US News & World Report. Its physicians are on faculty at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Children’s Memorial provides care to 126,000 patients and their families every year.
For more information, contact Kathleen Keenan at 773.880.4500.
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