Oncology

The Division of Pediatric Surgery at the Children's Hospital of NewYork is internationally renowned for expertise in minimally invasive surgical procedures using equipment specialized for children. The approach of the pediatric surgical team is "family-focused" as it allows parents or guardians to accompany the child into the operating room, thus the surgery is easier to cope with for both parents and children. For more information please visit the website: www.babysurg.org

The Integrative and Complementary Medicine program at the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center was the first pediatric oncology division in the country to mainstream complementary medicine into our traditional therapies of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy. Our goal is to heal not only our patients' bodies, but also their minds and spirits. The philosophy of the program consists of three major components:

• Education: Carol Ann's Library offers a multimedia experience consisting of books, journals, computerized databases with Internet access, audio and video materials.
• Research: Aimed at determining the efficacy and safety of complementary therapies in conjunction with traditional therapy.
• Clinical Care: Our patients benefit from nutritional and herbal counseling, aromatherapy, massage therapy, Reiki, and acupressure. All services are provided at no cost to patients and families.

For more information please visit our website at http://carolann.hs.columbia.edu

Phase I Experimental Therapeutics

The experimental therapeutics team at the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center has been awarded one of only twenty Phase I contracts granted by the National Cancer Institute through the auspices of the Children's Oncology Group.

Our institution is the only so designated center caring for children and adolescents with cancer in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut tri-state region. This designation recognizes our pediatric oncology program as one of the elite institutions in the country.

The criteria established to select members of the consortium define programs of excellence and included the following parameters:

• A demonstrated commitment to enroll patients in investigational studies
• The capacity to increase Phase I enrollment based on total patient numbers
• The necessary infrastructure to carry out pharmacokinetic, biologic, and investigational imaging studies
• A commitment to COG studies
• Investigators experienced in investigational drug trials

Participation in the Phase I consortium will allow us to offer our patients, the patients at our affiliate institutions, and those children with cancer throughout the greater New York metropolitan region many of the newest and most cutting-edge treatments.

Valerie Fund Psychosocial Program

The Valerie Fund psychosocial team includes a child psychologist, child-life specialists, social workers, and clergy. The team provides counseling, therapeutic play, pet therapy, music therapy, pastoral care, and the "Big Apple Circus Clown" program. Individual and age-appropriate group therapy is available to patients, families, and siblings.

The Valerie Fund is a New Jersey-based organization that supports six pediatric hematology/oncology programs throughout the state and has selected the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center at the Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian as its first and only New York program. The mission of the Valerie Fund, which will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is to provide financial support for the comprehensive medical care of children with cancer and blood disorders. The Fund has positively affected the lives of more than 4,000 children since its inception in 1976. Participation as a Valerie Fund center will expand the services that we are able to provide our patients and families.

The neuro-oncology program at the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center is world –renowned. The neuro-oncology team provides exceptional multidisciplinary care for patients with tumors of the central nervous system. While continually conducting research, they are highly experienced in specialized pediatric neurosurgical procedures. Our team utilizes advanced diagnostic imaging methods such as PET scans, PET/CT scans and high resolution rapid sequence MRI’s.

The therapeutic approach for our patients with brain tumors incorporates the newest chemotherapy protocols, stem cell transplants, and the most up-to-date radiotherapy techniques including gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery.

The gamma knife is a safe, noninvasive, technologically advanced device for treating deep-seated brain tumors and arteriovenous malformations. It enables treatment of conditions once considered inoperable, without incisions and with little or no pain. It is not truly a knife, but a precise treatment system that delivers up to 201 beams of radiation, with pinpoint accuracy, on an abnormality within the brain. In addition to the gamma knife, stereotactic radiosurgery and intensity modulated radiation are available as well.

Pediatric Pain Service

To help alleviate patients' pain, we have the only pediatric pain program in the region with this specific focus. Our dedicated team of pediatric anesthesiologists, nurse practitioners, child life specialists, and pediatric psychologists incorporates both traditional and complementary medical techniques.

The stem cell and bone marrow transplant program at the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center is accredited by the Children's Oncology Group and is a member of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant consortium. The program offers a multitude of transplant solutions including autologous, allogeneic, and placental cord blood procedures for the treatment of hematological and genetic diseases, leukemia, lymphoma, solid tumors and tumors of the central nervous system.

Basic science and translational research performed at the center include:

• Gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells
• Tandem auto/allotransplants for recurrent lymphoma and tumors of the central nervous system
• Novel therapies for the treatment of graft versus host disease
• Ex vivo expansion of cord blood stem cells
• New cell separation methods for autologous stem cell transplants

For more information please visit

Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund

The Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund is an independent 501c3, charity that supports the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center. The Fund has made an unyielding commitment to secure the future of children with cancer treated at the Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian. The mission of the Fund is to support and expand existing programs and therapies, develop new initiatives, and, most important, enhance the research that is so vital to continuing our fight for these young lives and promising that one day there will be a cure.

The support of the friends of the Fund will be used to aid the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center in many ways including:

• Supporting and expanding existing programs
• Developing new initiatives
• Supporting patient and family needs
• Enhancing the research that one day will not only find the cure, but will also prevent childhood cancer

For information about the Hope & Heroes Children's cancer Fund please contact Heather Maloney and Jeremy Shatan at 212 305 1420.