Assorted News from the Last Week:

My 5-year-old survived cancer twice. Medical innovation shouldn’t be political.

Pediatric patients with diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) may have better outcomes if they have a more diverse gut microbiome.

Two promising technologies for understanding circulating tumor DNA:

• AI tool analyzes blood DNA fragments for faster, affordable cancer monitoring
• A new blood test that uncovers hidden changes inside cancer cells could help doctors find the best treatments for children and young people with cancer.

Oncology community rallies against budget cuts for NIH and NCI.

Treatment with iopofosine I 131 demonstrated early survival benefit in a small cohort of pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory high-grade gliomas.

Program helps young patients with cancer build resilience and improve their quality of life.

St. Jude boosts partnership to fight pediatric cancer in Nigeria.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and strategic partners presented the results of the first collaborative study describing the current situation of childhood cancer survivors in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Upcoming Webinars, Online Opportunities, and Meetings:

The Coalition Against Childhood Cancer will hold its 2025 Annual Summit, hosted by Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC and presented by Day One Biopharmaceuticals. This annual event reflects the CAC2 values and mission by providing top-notch educational programming, designing multiple opportunities for members to connect and engage, and showcasing the ongoing efforts of our members who are working for a future without childhood cancers.  June 15-17.  Register here: CAC2 Annual Summit Registration

MIB Agents FACTOR Osteosarcoma Conference brings together the leading osteosarcoma researchers, clinicians, patient families, osteosarcoma survivors, patients, and bereaved parents to Make it Better (MIB) for those battling this disease. The conference is is Salt Lake City, UT on June 26 – 28 2025.  Click here for more information and to register.

Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing is pleased to announce Race Against Kids’ Cancer (RAKC), which will be at High Plains Raceway where these wonderful cars of all years and vintages are invited to gather to celebrate this class and September 27-28.  Click here for more information and to register.

NCI Office of Data Sharing will host a Data Jamboree that focuses on finding and accessing datasets, building specific pediatric cancer cohorts, and aggregating or linking datasets from various data systems still present tremendous challenges for the wider research and care community, on September 29 and 30, 2025.  Click here for more information and to register.

Take Action:

The Senate is considering a budget bill they hope to pass by July 4 that will substantially reduce funding for Medicaid. This will negatively affect the many children with cancer who receive their insurance through the federal government. This link contains an advocacy toolkit for folks to use to oppose cuts to Medicaid and is designed for organizations of all sizes to be able to participate in whichever way they’re able. It includes:

• Advocacy alert text
• Social media graphics and sample posts
• Template LTE’s with a guide on how to place them in their local newspapers
• Phone script for calls to Senate offices

The Childhood Cancer Data Jamboree (https://events.cancer.gov/nci/ods-data-jamboree) will be held on September 2025, 09/29 – 09/30. Interested individuals are highly encouraged to join this event, register and submit a project abstract summary concurrently. Before submitting a project abstract, interested folks are encouraged to identify potential datasets to be accessed and used, and tools if applicable (see Resources) to solve a specific question. The project abstracts will be reviewed and selected by a committee after the due date of June 23. Even if they are just looking to join a team without proposing project ideas, they can submit an abstract indicating their areas of interest. Travel sponsorship will be considered once the project is selected and their attendance confirmed.

The National Academies Committee on Strategies to Enhance Pediatric Health Research Funded by NIH invites pediatric patients and their families to share their experiences, thoughts, and perspectives on NIH-supported pediatric research. Click for more information or  Click to submit your experience.

The International Neuroblastoma Risk Group (INRG) Executive Committee are looking for patient advocates to be active members of the committee.  Expression of Interest document.