Hematology/Oncology Research Fellowship at Children’s Memorial Hospital: 2002 – 2003

From Right: Washington Square Health Foundation Executive Director, Howard Nochumson, Fellowship recipient, Dr Yazmin Goseienfiao, Head of Hematology, Oncology/Stem Cell Transplant; Director of Stem Cell Transplant Program, Dr Morris Kletzel and Director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, Dr. David Walterhouse meet to congratulate Dr Goseienfiao and discuss the latest breakthroughs in Children’s Memorial Hospital’s hematology / oncology research.

Approximately 13,000 children under the age of 20 will be diagnosed with childhood cancer this year. Oncology, the study of cancer and tumors, has made significant progress in the prevention, treatment, and prognosis of many childhood cancers. Yet despite this progress, cancer remains the third most common cause of death in children ages one to nineteen.

Children’s Memorial Hospital is the single largest institutional provider of specialized services for all forms of pediatric cancer in the Midwest.

Led by Morris Kletzel, MD, an internationally regarded cancer specialist whose work has led to significant breakthroughs in cancer cure, the Children’s Memorial Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases is one of the premiere programs in the nation. Within the Center, 57 percent of children in the Chicago area diagnosed with brain diseases come to receive the most advanced treatment protocols available.

Here, clinical care and research work in concert to provide an unrivaled breadth and depth of services and the highest level of expertise among its cancer specialists and subspecialists.

Even still, the field of hematology/oncology continues to become increasingly more complex as patients are living longer and as the role of genetics continues to emerge. Thus, a thorough undertaking of pediatric cancer requires the involvement of physicians who have the interest and focus, possess the skills and training, and wish to make an impact on society. In order to have such an impact, young physicians must be immersed in the dynamics of groundbreaking research as well as in the delivery of outstanding clinical care.

Dr. Yazmin Goseienfiao, the recipient of the 2003 Washington Square Health Foundation funded Hematology/Oncology Research Fellowship, a competitive one-year research-based fellowship at Children’s Memorial Hospital, is putting her training to work in the lab focusing on genetic research and the discovery of certain “cancer genes”.

Dr. Goseienfiao will have the opportunity to take part in ongoing basic science investigations that will enable her to gain a heightened understanding of the underlying causes of blood diseases and cancer and to foster new treatments that will save and improve thousands of young lives.

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