HEADstrong Delivers

The HEADstrong Foundation has awarded $50,000 to the Nicholas E Colleluori Lymphoma Research Fund at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital under the direction of Dr. Stephen J. Schuster, Director, Lymphoma Program; Director, Lymphoma Translational Research. Dr. Schuster recently made headlines due to his ground-breaking discovery that a safe, biological vaccine can be developed which triggers a patient’s immune system to attack the cancer cells in their body. This breakthrough has been a capstone achievement in a career that has already significantly advanced the fields of hematology and oncology.

The HEADstrong Foundation is a proud national sponsor of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS’s) Light The Night Walk which helps bring hope to people battling blood cancers. The Foundation’s recent donation of $25,000 will be directed to lifesaving blood cancer research, free educational materials and events for patients and their families and comprehensive, personalized assistance through LLS’s Information Resource Center.

The HEADstrong Foundation has awarded a $10,000 grant to City of Hope’s Dr. Hua Yu, Professor of Cancer Immunotherapeutic and Tumor Immunology. Her research has uncovered a key molecular pathway for cancer survival and growth with the discovery that the protein S1PR1 plays an instrumental role in lymphoma and that blocking this protein could potentially form the basis for an effective new therapy against this disease.

The HEADstrong Foundation has awarded over $20,000 in educational scholarships to survivors and/or students entering the medical profession. The applicants are someone now in remission between the ages of 18 – 26 having a desire for continuing education or a senior in high school who is entering a 4 year college pursing a degree in the medical field. The students should be in fine standing with their school and have no less than a B average.

The HEADstrong Foundation has disbursed over $200,000 in direct financial assistance to patients and their families affected by blood cancers. Additionally, the Foundation has provided over 300 patients with quality of life improvement services including a 100% occupancy rate at Nick’s House. Nick’s House is the Foundation’s latest accomplishment offering a comfort of haven to out of town patients seeking specialized treatment in the Philadelphia metro area.