“We hope to have paved the way for treatment of this disease,” says Roger Packer of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. In May 2022, the Research Innovation Campus at Children’s National Hospital hosted the first in-person workshop of the Cure Group 4 Consortium: an international gathering of renowned researchers and physician-scientists committed to discovering new therapeutic approaches to treat Group 4 medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood.

The Consortium was created in 2021 with the scientific leadership of Dr. Roger J. Packer and the partnership of international philanthropist Fernando Goldsztein, founder of The Medulloblastoma Initiative (MBI), which raises private funds for research. The Consortium currently brings together the expertise of internationally renowned laboratories, including the Hospital for Sick Children, Sanford Burnham Prebys, Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg, Michigan Medicine, and Emory University.

This group of researchers (all leaders in their fields) hopes to identify innovative ways to treat Group 4 medulloblastoma in a relatively short research timeframe — 12 to 18 months. To achieve this, the group will share data and work synergistically, integrating their expertise in understanding tumor biology with cutting-edge treatments such as molecular therapy and immunotherapy.