About the Innovative Translational Research Award!
AeroPress has been innovating since 1984, so it’s a natural fit for us to partner with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a charity dedicated to raising money for groundbreaking research to advance novel, less toxic treatments for childhood cancer. The Innovative Translational Research Award, fully funded by AeroPress, Inc., grants up to $100,000 to a young researcher studying promising new treatments for children who are fighting cancer.
Meet the Award Winner!
Dr. Nicholas Vitanza from Seattle Children’s Research Institute, pictured here with his fellow lab founders, Senior Research Technician Carrie Myers (left) and Senior Research Scientist Matt Biery (right), is the winner of the inaugural Innovative Translational Research Award! Dr. Vitanza is a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children’s researching midline gliomas, a particularly aggressive form of brain tumor. His hope is to develop an immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptor T cells to treat children who typically have a survival of only 11 months after diagnosis. Congratulations to Dr. Vitanza and his team!
By the Numbers: Cookies for Kids’ Cancer
Today, Cookies for Kids' Cancer has funded nearly 100 research grants totaling more than $17 million that have led to 25 promising new treatments and clinical trials. Volunteers have held nearly 14,000 fundraising events across the US and in 20 countries worldwide!
History of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer
When 2-year old Liam Witt was diagnosed with childhood cancer in 2007, his mother Gretchen was shocked to learn of the lack of effective treatments for pediatric cancers due to lack of funding. She was even more shocked to learn that it’s the #1 disease killer of children in the U.S. and that two out of three kids who receive cancer treatments have long-term debilitating side effects. Gretchen pledged to support the funding of research for safer, more effective treatments for children battling cancer. With the help of 250 volunteers, Gretchen baked and sold 96,000 cookies, raising more than $420,000 for childhood cancer research. Word spread, and people nationwide began asking, “How can I help?”