“We hope to have paved the way to treating this disease,” says Roger Packer of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.In May 2022, the Children’s National Hospital Research & Innovation Campus hosted the first in-person workshop of the Cure Group Four Consortium: an international meeting of world-renowned investigators and medical scientists committed to discovering new therapeutic approaches to treat Group 4 medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood.
The Consortium was established in 2021 under the scientific leadership of Dr. Roger J. Packer, in partnership with international philanthropist Fernando Goldsztein, founder of The Medulloblastoma Initiative (MBI), which raises private funding for research. Currently, the Consortium brings together the expertise of several internationally renowned labs, including SickKids (The Hospital for Sick Children), Sanford Burnham Prebys, Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg, Michigan Medicine, and Emory University.
This group of investigators – all leaders in their respective fields – hopes to identify innovative ways to treat Group 4 medulloblastoma in a relatively short time frame: 12 to 18 months of research. To achieve this, the participating laboratories share data and work synergistically, integrating their expertise in understanding tumor biology with cutting-edge treatments such as molecular therapy and immunotherapy.
