“Saving the Lives of Adolescents and Adults: New Developments in Understanding Suicidal Behavior” will be presented at the next “Building Hope” lecture sponsored by the University of Louisville Depression Center.

The program will begin at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 8, at Second Presbyterian Church, 3701 Old Brownsboro Rd. Admission is free.

Co-sponsored by the Louisville Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the program will provide participants with information on new developments in understanding suicidal behavior and approaches to treatment and interventions for suicidal individuals.

The speaker will be David Goldston, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, in the Department of Psychiatry’s Division of Child & Family Mental Health & Developmental Neuroscience at the Duke University School of Medicine. He also serves as director of the Duke Center for the Study of Suicide Prevention and Intervention.

The University of Louisville Depression Center is Kentuckiana’s leading resource for depression and bipolar disorder treatment, research and education. It is a charter member of the National Network of Depression Centers, a consortium of leading depression centers that develops and fosters connections among members to advance scientific discovery and provide stigma-free, evidence-based care to patients with depressive and bipolar illnesses.

For more information, contact the Depression Center at 502-588-4450.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is the leader in the fight against suicide. It funds research, offers educational programs, advocates for public policy and supports those affected by suicide. Headquartered in New York, AFSP has 75 local chapters, including Louisville, with programs and events nationwide.

Take a walk in the park.

Meet for a cup of coffee.

These simple social interactions can make a world of difference to patients with Parkinson’s Disease and to University of Louisville medical students who will have the opportunity to see what daily life is like for individuals with the disease.

The Parkinson’s Buddy Program, a unique new partnership between the UofL School of Medicine and the Parkinson Support Center, has matched 25 “buddies” from the first-year class of medical students with patients served by the center. In the first program of its kind for Parkinson’s patients, the pairs are participating in a year-long program designed to give the patients social interaction and allow them to share their stories with the medical students, who in turn gain first-hand knowledge about living with a nervous system disorder.

The program kicks off Thursday, September 3 when the buddy pairs will meet for the first time from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, 1640 Lyndon Farm Ct., #100 in Louisville. (Editor’s note:  Members of the media are invited to attend.)

Student-patient pairs then are encouraged to meet on their own about once a month for a board game, lecture or exercise class to share their stories and enjoy time together. Kathrin LaFaver, M.D., Raymond Lee Lebby Chair for Parkinson’s Disease Research in the Department of Neurology at UofL, said the exchanges will give the students a deeper understanding of how patients cope with the disease.

“This program will educate medical students on Parkinson’s and neurological disease and help them understand the day-to-day issues faced by individuals living with Parkinson’s,” LaFaver said.

Allie Hanson, assistant director of the Parkinson Support Center, proposed the idea for the program as a way to improve the wellbeing of patients served by the center.

“The patients will be able to share their stories, plus the meetings will reduce some of the social isolation that people with Parkinson’s can experience,” Hanson said.

In addition to meeting with their patient buddies, students will keep a journal reflecting on their experience after each buddy meeting. Students also will attend hour-long mentoring sessions each month with LaFaver, the director of the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Clinic at UofL Physicians. The seminars will provide additional medical information and inform the students about research and career opportunities in neurology and movement disorders.

Parkinson’s Disease is a chronic and progressive brain disorder of the central nervous system. The motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease result from the death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra, a region of the midbrain. Dopamine is the chemical that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. The loss of dopamine causes neurons to fire without normal control, leaving patients less able to control their movement. Patients are also frequently suffering from so-called “non-motor” symptoms including loss of smell, constipation, fatigue, anxiety and depression. Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox are notable individuals living with Parkinson’s Disease.

The Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging at the University of Louisville has established September as “Optimal Aging Month” with several events planned. The month’s activities kick off Sept. 9 with the Optimal Aging Lecture Series designed to explore the science of aging.

Robert Friedland, M.D., professor of neurology, will present “Gene Therapy, Diet and the Biology of Neurodegeneration” at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 9, at The University Club, 200 E. Brandeis Ave.

Admission is $17 per person and includes lunch. Reservations are required online. For information, call 502-852-8953 or email ann.burke@louisville.edu.

Holder of the Mason C. and Mary D. Rudd Endowed Chair in Neurology, Friedland is a clinical and research neurologist devoted to the study of brain disorders associated with aging. His work has focused on clinical and biological issues in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

Friedland has authored or co-authored more than 200 scientific publications and has current research funding from the National Institute on Aging as well as several foundations, institutes, corporations and families. He has had more than $1 million in research funding to support his work every year since 1985.

Use of irreversible electroporation (IRE) doubles the survival time for patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer say researchers at the University of Louisville in a paper in the September edition of the Annals of Surgery (http://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/Abstract/2015/09000/Treatment_of_200_Locally_Advanced__Stage_III_.10.aspx).

“The appropriate and precise use of IRE in appropriately selected patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer can result in a median overall survival close to 24 months, which is nearly double the survival rate with the best new chemotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy,” said Robert Martin, M.D., Ph.D., director of surgical oncology at UofL.

IRE uses ultra-short but strong electrical fields to create holes in cell membranes, ultimately leading to cell death. The main use of IRE lies in tumor removal in regions where precision and conservation of the basic cellular matrix, blood flow and nerves are of importance.

In the study, 200 patients at six sites throughout the United States received IRE following chemotherapy. The patients were followed for up to seven years following their initial diagnosis and initiation of treatment. The average survival time for patients was close to two years.

IRE is commonly performed as an open surgery with an incision of about six to eight centimeters. This allows for better visualization for probe placement, as well as combined tumor removal as dictated for individual patients. This commonly requires a five- to seven-day hospital stay and a two- to three-week recovery for the patient to get back to their baseline quality of life

Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of all cancers and is expected to climb from the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States to the second by 2020. Ninety four percent of pancreatic cancer patients will die within five years of diagnosis, and 74 percent of patients die within the first year of diagnosis.

“This study demonstrates that IRE, in conjunction with standard-of-care, may substantially prolong the survival rates of patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer,” Martin said. “While additional research is needed, ablation may represent an addition to the current standard of care for Stage III pancreatic cancer patients whose only treatment options until now have been chemotherapy or a combination of chemo-radiation therapy.”

Patients in the study were seen at UofL James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, the Cleveland Clinic, Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Swedish Medical Center in Denver and Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Atlanta.

Martin initially reported these finding at the American Surgical Association annual meeting in April 2015.

Two golf tournaments in September will benefit the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health.

The 7^th Annual Don Happel Memorial Golf Tournament will be held Saturday, Sept. 12, at Eagle Creek Golf Course in La Grange, Ky., and the 5^th Annual Hammertime Golf Scramble will be Monday, Sept. 14, at Iroquois Golf Course in Louisville.

About the Don Happel Tournament

The Happel Tournament tees off at 8:30 a.m., Sept. 12, with a shotgun start. The tournament is a scramble and has payouts for the 1^st, 2^nd and “Lucky” 13^th” holes. Cost is $300 per team of four and each player can purchase two red tees for $10. Hole sponsorships are available for $50 each.

The Eagle Creek Golf Course is located at 2820 S. Highway 53, La Grange. Since the tournament’s inception, it has raised almost $18,000 for the cancer center, helping to provide education, transportation and other non-clinical services.

Registration deadline is Aug. 29. For details, contact Bret Happel at 502-253-2207 or Cindy Hall at 502-767-3752.

About the Hammertime Golf Scramble

The Hammertime Scramble benefits the Larry Smith Lung Cancer Fund at the cancer center and will start at 1 p.m.  on Aug. 14. The event features a putting contest, long drive contest, silent auction, door prizes and the chance to win a new car. Individual fee is $75 and a team of four is $300. Sponsorships range from $100 to $3,500.

The Iroquois Golf Course is at 1501 Rundill Road, Louisville. The tournament is affiliated with the UofL Alumni Association. The tournament’s goal is $50,000 to help fund a new cancer screening van that will provide cancer screenings to underserved populations across Kentucky.

For details and to register, go to the tournament web page or contact Linda Dame at linda.dame@louisville.edu.

About the James Graham Brown Cancer Center

The James Graham Brown Cancer Center is a key component of the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center. As part of the region's leading academic, research and teaching health center, the cancer center provides the latest medical advances to patients, often long before they become available in non-teaching settings. The JGBCC is a part of KentuckyOne Health and is affiliated with the Kentucky Cancer Program. It is the only cancer center in the region to use a unified approach to cancer care, with multidisciplinary teams of physicians working together to guide patients through diagnosis, treatment and recovery. For more information, visit our website, http://browncancercenter.louisville.edu.

The chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University will present the 2015 Leonard Leight Lecture at the University of Louisville.

Robert Harrington, M.D., will speak at noon, Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the 16^th Floor Conference Center of the Rudd Heart and Lung Center, 201 Abraham Flexner Way. Admission is free.

The Leonard Leight Lecture is presented annually by the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. For 30 years until 1996, Leight was a practicing cardiologist in Louisville and played a major role in developing cardiology services and bringing innovative treatment modalities in heart disease to Louisville.

The Leonard Leight Lecture series was established in 1994 and is made possible by gifts from Dr. and Mrs. Kurt Ackermann and Medical Center Cardiologists to the Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Foundation.

About Robert Harrington, M.D.

The Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine at Stanford since 2012, Harrington is an interventional cardiologist and experienced clinical investigator in the area of heart disease. At Stanford, he leads a department of 220 faculty members in 14 divisions.

Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, Harrington spent five years as the director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, regarded as the world’s largest academic clinical research organization. The institute has conducted studies in 65 countries while building diverse research programs in clinical trials and health services research. He joined the faculty at Duke in 1993.

As a clinical investigator, he has worked primarily in the area of acute ischemic heart disease, or heart disease resulting from restricted blood flow to the heart muscle. He has established clinical research collaborations that involve investigators from around the world.

“My science has progressed from the focused study of thrombosis to using more broadly the tools of clinical science to answer clinical questions while finding new and innovative ways to design clinical trials and use clinical data to improve the care of patients,” Harrington said. “Society needs academic centers to step up and figure out how we are going to deliver health care while also advancing science and educating the next generation of clinical leaders.”

Harrington is a native of Massachusetts. He has an undergraduate degree in English from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He received his medical degree from Tufts University in 1986 and completed an internship, residency and served as chief resident at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He trained in general and interventional cardiology as a fellow at Duke.

He has served as an associate editor of the American Heart Journal, an editorial board member of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and one of the editors of the 13th edition of Hurst's the Heart, a leading textbook in cardiovascular medicine. He is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians as well as a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, the American College of Chest Physicians and the European Society of Cardiology. He is a member of the board of trustees for the American College of Cardiology.

Several units at the University of Louisville will join together with groups from throughout Louisville and the United States to commemorate the end of World War II.

“Keep the Spirit of ’45 Alive! 70^th Anniversary of the End of WWII” will be held Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 15 and 16.

With the surrender of Japan on Aug. 14, 1945, the Second World War came to a close. Activities for the 70^th Anniversary are planned throughout the United States. The website www.spiritof45.org provides more information.

“As time goes on, we lose more and more of the people whose service, both in the theater of war and on the home front, protected our freedoms during the dark days of World War II,” said University of Louisville President James R. Ramsey. “That is why the University of Louisville is honored to take part in commemorations such as Keep the Spirit of ’45 Alive.

“We must never forget what our Greatest Generation sacrificed so that we can all be free.”

In Louisville, Saturday’s commemoration will take place at the Vintage WarBirds Hangar 5 at Bowman Field, 2700 Gast Blvd. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., exhibits, demonstrations and entertainment will evoke memories of Louisville during World War II. Vintage military equipment, vehicles and aircraft will be on display, along with other historical exhibits. Attendees who remember the war will have the opportunity to record their WWII memories for future generations. Entertainment will be provided by the Ladies of Liberty, a three-woman singing troupe that performs 1940s hits in the style of the Andrews Sisters. Admission is free.

From 6 to 10 p.m. in the same location, a “Canteen Dinner and Dance” will be held, also featuring the Ladies of Liberty and the Don Krekel Orchestra performing big-band hits of the period. Admission is $45 per person.

Sunday, Aug. 16, is “Honor Flight Night” at VFW Post #1170, 107 Evergreen Rd. in Middletown. The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to making it possible for veterans to travel to Washington, D.C., to see the World War II, Korean and Vietnam War memorials.

Kentucky’s Bluegrass Chapter of Honor Flight will honor those World War II veterans who are unable to make the trip. Dinner will feature a video showing the 2015 D-Day Honor Flight on June 6 to the World War II Memorial. Admission for veterans and their guests is free.

Honor Flight Night is sponsored by the Office of the President at the University of Louisville. Participating in Saturday’s events will be UofL’s Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging, School of Dentistry, Kent School of Social Work and Department of History. Other sponsors include the Frazier History Museum, the Kentucky Historical Society, Jean Frazier and a variety of military and veterans organizations.

For information on Saturday’s events, contact the local Spirit of ’45 office, 502-387-4412 or Dell Courtney, dellcourtn@aol.com.

The countdown to “Splat Out Cancer” has officially begun. After months of preparation, the large-scale fundraising event dedicated to raising $1 million for the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center (JGBCC) is set to kickoff Aug. 29 on the corner of Sixth and Market streets in downtown Louisville.

With the goal of 1,000-plus balloons being launched from catapults in one day, the “Splat Out Cancer” team is preparing to use over 50 gallons of Benjamin Moore’s Aura^® Exterior paint to create one of the largest community-generated works of art in Louisville history.

“You get to do good and be bad,” said Jerry Preyss, CEO of Scoppechio, the Louisville-based ad agency that created and is overseeing the execution of Splat Out Cancer. “For $25 bucks you get to launch a balloon filled with paint and see it splat against a giant wall. And nobody gets arrested. Now how much fun is that?”

Currently the JGBCC has over 165 cancer trials in process, and nearly a third of those are new, groundbreaking treatments developed by JGBCC researchers.

“We rely heavily on philanthropic dollars to move many of our most promising drugs and therapies into human clinical trials,” said JGBCC Director Donald Miller, M.D., Ph.D. “The money from this event will be used exclusively to accelerate research projects to the clinical trials. One million dollars can help transfer multiple projects out of the lab into a Phase 1 clinical stage trial.”

“We have a sense of urgency at UofL,” said UofL President James R. Ramsey. “We need to take translational research to the clinic to improve the quality of life for people with cancer. The support for Splat Out Cancer will enable us to take the research to the clinic and move forward. We are proud to be part of this initiative and the work being done at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center.”

“Every dollar donated by sponsors, groups and participants goes directly to reaching the goal of $1 million. And besides the activities on the 29^th, there will be other components to this program to raise the $1 million,” Preyss added.

Event sponsors include Benjamin Moore Paints, the Yum! Brands Foundation, KFC, Interapt, Outfront Media, KentuckyOne Health, Humana, LG&E-KU, Onco360, Old National Bank, NPC Internatonal and Babs and Lee Robinson.

“We are so thankful for the generous involvement and donations from our sponsors and, particularly, Benjamin Moore,” said Scoppechio Founder and Executive Chairman and UofL Board of Trustees Member Debbie Scoppechio. “As a four-time cancer survivor, this initiative hits home for me. In fact, I believe one of the reasons I’m alive today is because of the work being done at the JGBCC.”

With nine Benjamin Moore retail locations in the Louisville area, the paint maker is playing a critical role in Splat Out Cancer with its expertise, donated paint and coordinated fundraising efforts in all Benjamin Moore area stores.

The festivities begin at 11 a.m. at Sixth and Main with inaugural splats by local figures, James Graham Brown Cancer Center doctors and cancer survivors. Decked out in a lab coat and goggles, groups and individuals will be able to splat throughout the day from one of three giant balloon launchers that will target a framed canvas on the wall of 539 W. Market St. Other activities include a kid’s area splat wall, photo wall, food trucks and booths with information and fun giveaways. Local celebrities, mascots and Louisville sports teams representatives also will be in attendance.

The film production company 180 Degrees Film will shoot throughout the day for an upcoming documentary about Splat Out Cancer. The company's “Cancer Confessions” booth also will allow people the opportunity to share their personal cancer story.

Individuals and groups who preregister with donations on SplatOutCancer.com also will receive a commemorative t-shirt.

“The Louisville community is extraordinary in the way it supports the great sports teams at the University. At the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, they are doing championship work in the field of cancer research. It’s important to support them too and bring visibility to what they are doing to beat cancer. We are looking forward to seeing a lot of people on the 29^th,” Preyss said.

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As the manager of the Rapid Prototyping Center (RPC) at the University of Louisville, Tim Gornet has collaborated on numerous exciting and groundbreaking research and medical applications. Most recently, the center created a three-dimensional model of a child’s defective heart to allow the surgeons to plan and prepare for his surgery.

At the next “Beer with a Scientist” event, Gornet will discuss more potential applications for 3D printing in medicine, scientific research and advanced manufacturing.

The program begins at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26 at Against the Grain Brewery, 401 E. Main St. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

The Beer with a Scientist program began in 2014 and is the brainchild of UofL cancer researcher Levi Beverly, Ph.D. Once a month, the public is invited to enjoy exactly what the title promises:  beer and science.

Admission is free. Purchase of beer, other beverages or menu items is not required but is encouraged.

Organizers add that they also encourage Beer with a Scientist patrons to drink responsibly.

For more information and to suggest future Beer with a Scientist topics, follow Louisville Underground Science on Facebook.

A new combination vaccine may reduce the number of injections required to keep infants and toddlers up to date with the United States infant immunization schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a phase III trial reported in the August 2015 issue of Pediatrics, the vaccine was determined to be effective, safe and well-tolerated. Gary S. Marshall, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Louisville, was the principal investigator of the multi-center trial and first author of the report.

The hexavalent vaccine combination, known as DTaP5-IPV-Hib-HepB, is aligned with the recommended immunization schedule and is expected to protect children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and hepatitis B. The trial, coordinated at UofL, included nearly 1500 children in multiple centers across the United States.

The long list of immunizations in the recommended immunization schedule can lead to deferred injections and limit the addition of new vaccines. Depending on which vaccine combinations are used by an individual medical practice, this new vaccine combination may mean an infant receives 1 to 4 fewer injections.

“It has gotten complicated because there are so many vaccines, which is good news because there are fewer sick children. Having combination vaccines is more good news – it makes things simpler without compromising protection,” Marshall said. “Hopefully, this vaccine combination will improve coverage rates. Studies show that when you use combination vaccines, more kids get vaccinated on time and by two years of age more are fully protected. When you make it easier, you get better coverage.”

A similar hexavalent vaccine has been available in Europe for more than a decade and has resulted in more timely immunizations.

The report in Pediatrics, entitled “Immunogenicity, Safety, and Tolerability of a Hexavalent Vaccine in Infants,” indicates that children who were given the new vaccine developed immunity to the listed diseases equivalent to that received from an existing immunization regimen. The children experienced a slightly higher rate of redness at the injection site and slightly higher rate of self-limited fever following the injections, as compared with the established regimen. Children receiving both the new vaccine and the established regimen were followed for serious adverse health events for six months following the final dose, with no safety signals raised in either of the two groups.

The new vaccine is currently under review by the Food and Drug Administration. After approval, the vaccine will be available for incorporation into the routine childhood schedule.

“Once it is licensed, we can take pride in having brought this new vaccine to the pediatric community and having done our part to simplify the routine immunization schedule,” Marshall said.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE:  Dr. Marshall has been an investigator on clinical trials funded by GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi Pasteur, and he also has received honoraria from these companies for service on advisory boards.

Registration is now open for the 15^th Annual Geriatric Health Care Symposium, “Maximizing Independence for Optimal Aging,” presented by the University of Louisville Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging.

The symposium will be held 7:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18, at the Founders Union Building of UofL’s Shelby Campus, 9001 Shelbyville Road.

Keynoting the event will be David Morris, Ph.D., interim chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. A licensed physical therapist and known nationally for his expertise in physical therapy for seniors, Morris will speak on “Fitness for Life.”

Other sessions at the symposium include “Google Glass in Rural Nursing Homes and Home Health,” “Preventive Care in Older Adults,” “Polypharmacy 2.0 – Antipsychotic Meds,” “Maximizing Oral Health,” “Update on Dementia” and more.

Faculty include Amelia Kiser, M.D., Laura Morton, M.D., Christian Furman, M.D. and Daniela Neamtu, M.D., all from the UofL Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine; Demetra Antimisiaris, Pharm.D., UofL Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Mike Mansfield, D.M.D., and Gustavo Oliveira, D.M.D., UofL School of Dentistry; Belinda Setters, M.D., Robley Rex Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Benjamin Mast, Ph.D., UofL Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences; and Anne Veno, R.N., Episcopal Church Home.

Continuing education credits are available through the UofL Department of Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development for physicians, nurses, physical therapists and dentists. Continuing education credit for social workers is in process, and the program is pending approval by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Registration before Aug. 15 qualifies for early bird discounts. Registration before Aug. 15 is $125 for physicians; $35 for students; and $100 for all others. Valid identification is required to qualify for registration categories.

To register and for more information, go to the symposium website.

Four-year-old Evander Conroy is visiting Louisville this summer from his home in Sydney, Australia to continue therapy designed to help him gain the ability to walk. Evander is receiving Locomotor Training (LT) with University of Louisville researcher Andrea Behrman, Ph.D., director of the Kosair Charities Center for Pediatric NeuroRecovery, a clinical services division of UofL’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC).

To make this trip to Louisville even more special, Evander will be the first child to utilize a newly developed locomotor treadmill designed specifically for children. Previously, Behrman and her team had to adapt adult devices to fit Evander and other children who come from around the world for the therapy.

Helping make the visit possible is the Crawford's Kid program, created by the Todd Crawford Foundation to Cure Paralysis, which provides funds to help cover the family’s expenses related to the trip to Louisville. Evander, the second “Crawford's Kid,” will spend five weeks in Louisville receiving booster LT therapy and participating in research to better understand the muscle activity contributing to his progress for sitting, standing and stepping.

Evander’s spine was damaged by a malignant tumor present in his chest cavity at birth, and his family was told he would spend his life in a wheelchair. However, his mother, Clare, met Behrman at a spinal cord injury conference in Australia and learned about LT, an activity-based rehabilitation approach Behrman provides at Frazier Rehab Institute, a part of KentuckyOne Health, in Louisville. Evander previously came to Louisville for therapy with Behrman in 2013 and again in 2014, and has experienced significant progress. Through the therapy, Evander has been able to move his legs and take independent steps.

The Todd Crawford Foundation grew out of efforts to assist Crawford following his own injury in 2002. Crawford was 22 years old and had just graduated from college when he suffered a spinal cord injury that left him in a wheelchair. His family and friends organized fundraisers to help during his physical rehabilitation. Crawford, who earned an MBA from UofL, is president of Crawford Designs and continues the fundraising events, including the 5K Run, Walk or Roll. Funds from the events support Crawford’s Kids and other programs affiliated with KSCIRC, as well as spinal cord awareness and advocacy organizations.

“We are able to help financially assist these kids coming to Louisville because we have a large group of wonderful people who come to our events and support our mission. For this, we are continually grateful,” Crawford said.

The new treadmill is the result of a collaborative effort of Behrman and her colleagues in the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center and others throughout the university, especially from the UofL Speed School of Engineering. Funding for the development of the prototype came from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Additional funding from the Coulter Foundation will be used in this collaborative effort throughout the university to move this device forward to commercialization as a clinical unit for use in pediatric rehabilitation.

About Locomotor Training

Andrea Behrman, Ph.D.,is a professor in UofL’s Department of Neurological Surgery and director of the Kosair Charities Center for Pediatric NeuroRecovery. Her research focus is to develop and test therapeutic methods that promote recovery after spinal cord injury in children and adults. Behrman has found that early, intensive therapy harnesses the damaged system’s remarkable capacity to change. With intensive, specific therapies capitalizing on this plasticity of the spinal cord and nervous system, children like Evander Conroy who were never expected to get better are getting better. While intensive activity-based therapy does not always lead to fully independent walking, evidence shows it improves mobility, functional skills, quality of life and overall health.

When Mary Osborne and some of her classmates toured the James Graham Brown Cancer Center (JGBCC) and research facilities at the University of Louisville, she had a lot of questions. The sophomore at Central Hardin High School was fascinated by the research and treatments that Brian Clem, Ph.D. described for the students.

“When we got to ask him questions. I basically ended up grilling him about what he was doing,” Osborne said.

Clem, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at UofL and a researcher with JGBCC, appreciated her curiosity and encouraged her to apply for the Summer Research Intern Program sponsored by JGBCC for high school students.

“Mary asked me probably 30 questions on that tour. Her interest and enthusiasm stood out,” Clem said. “I definitely requested to have her as an intern.”

The 2015 Summer Research Intern Program provided 14 high school students from the Greater Louisville area with the opportunity to work in a University of Louisville medical research lab under the guidance of some of the top cancer researchers in the nation. Each student is assigned one of the Cancer Center’s research faculty as a mentor and works in that researcher’s lab for eight weeks. JGBCC has hosted the program for the past 13 summers as a way to reach out to the area’s budding scientists.

“I love science and I love that there never is really an answer to everything. There is always another question,” said Osborne, who hopes to pursue a career in medicine or science. “We can find treatments for cancer, but we want to find treatments for individual people. Every cancer is different.”

Many of the students in the program aspire to careers in medicine or research, and having spent a summer working in a medical lab and with an established researcher is an impressive point on the student’s resume and college applications. Another student in the program, Kyle Bilyeu, graduated from Louisville’s Trinity High School this spring and has been working with John Eaton, Ph.D., and Chi Li, Ph.D., this summer. He sees the program as a chance to get ahead on the path to becoming a clinical oncologist.

“This experience is invaluable. This introduction puts me ahead of everyone as I progress through my career goals,” said Bilyeu, who will enroll at UofL this fall as an undergraduate.

The program also gives UofL the chance to introduce the University’s vibrant research community to bright, curious students from the local area like Osborne and Bilyeu.

“UofL and the Cancer Center are trying to get high school students interested in science,” Clem said. “We want to highlight what UofL has to offer in terms of research to keep them in the city instead of going elsewhere for their education. Plus, it gets my foot in the door with them. If I find a really good student, I like to have them come back.”

Clem says that the researchers also benefit from having the young students in the lab.

“They bring a lot of different dynamics to the lab during the summer. It reinforces your teaching and mentorship ability,” Clem said. “High school students are inexperienced in the science background and knowledge necessary to work in the lab. You have to start from scratch. It is amazing to see how they progress in their knowledge base and ability to grasp new ideas and gain hands-on experience.”

Clem said one of the most difficult lessons for a high school-age student is understanding that experiments don’t always work the first time.

“The students get a crash course in the ups and downs of things not working and troubleshooting. They realize that research isn’t about everything working; 80 to 90 percent of it is about why stuff isn’t working,” Clem said.

The high school students presented posters representing their summer research work on Thursday, July 30 in the lobby of the Kosair Charities Clinical and Translational Research Building, along with undergraduate summer research students from other programs.

Thanks to a nearly $57,000 gift from the Daniel Pitino Foundation, 5,600 children throughout the state of Kentucky will continue to receive life-saving cardiac care from doctors with University of Louisville Physicians.

On Tuesday, July 21, a new van was dedicated that is critical to delivering those services. The van, bought with the gift from the foundation, was unveiled during a news conference at the UofL Physicians Health Care Outpatient Center.

For more than four decades,doctors and staff affiliated with the University of Louisville have packed their bags every week and traveled the state to give those thousands of children with heart problems specialized care close to their homes.

The pediatric cardiology team travels to eight rotating sites from Ashland to Paducah and places in between, bringing all their supplies and medical equipment - such as EKG and echocardiogram machines - in a customized van made just for the task. The team, which lives on the road four days a week, reaches up to 50 patients a day and more than 5,600 per year.

For many of these children, the van makes it possible to get the care they need without having to travel hours to Louisville and have their parents take time off work and spend precious resources on travel expenses and hotels. For some with very limited resources, it makes the difference between getting the care they need and not getting care at all.

But over the years as the latest van aged, it became unreliable, at times leaving the doctors and staff without a way to transport their equipment to patients. Now, thanks to the $56,901 grant from the Daniel Pitino Foundation, the pediatric cardiology travel team has a brand new van made just for them to reach the patients they serve.

“We are so thankful to the Daniel Pitino Foundation for this generous grant that helps us reach so many children in Kentucky who need our services,” said Dr. Walter Sobczyk, senior pediatric cardiologist at UofL Physicians and an associate professor at the UofL School of Medicine.

“Getting care in rural and outlying areas, far from large cities like Louisville, is a very tough task for many families. They have enough to worry about without adding travel and the associated expenses to the mix. We believe that every child deserves access to the health care they need, no matter their circumstances. The van helps ensure they get expert care and have access to the latest in medical advancements and treatments so they can live the best possible life.”

The Daniel Pitino Foundation was founded by UofL men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino and his wife, JoAnne, to honor the memory of their infant son, Daniel, who died of a congenital heart condition in 1987. The foundation’s mission is to benefit underprivileged children and other charitable causes.

“In recognizing the quality care and treatment provided by the doctors and staff of UofL Physicians across the Commonwealth, our board is pleased that we can provide support for the transportation needs of these dedicated individuals,” said Ron Carmicle, executive vice president of the Daniel Pitino Foundation’s board.

For many patients, the van’s services are invaluable.

“It’s made a huge difference in our lives,” said Jill Story, of Benton, Ky., whose daughter Jacee, 16, sees the van’s doctors because of a congenital heart defect. Her husband Matt, 45, also has a congenital heart defect and has been seeing the van’s doctors since he was a child. “It keeps us from having to routinely travel more than three hours to Louisville for their care.”

More about the pediatric cardiology outreach program

The outreach van travels to sites around Kentucky, including Owensboro, Bowling Green, Paducah, Ashland, Murray and Elizabethtown. On most days, the team consists of two doctors and six support staff.  At each site, the team leases office space for the day, where the staff sees up to 50 patients a day, four days a week, Monday through Friday.

The staff also sees referrals from pediatricians and local hospitals. Some patients of the outreach program, like Matt Story, are adults who have been seeing the team’s doctors since they were children.

For patients who need surgery or more complex procedures, the team can arrange for care at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, as well as transport there.

Back in Louisville, the team also is part of a statewide telemedicine network, where staff at 27 hospitals around the state can digitally transmit results of a heart test for immediate analysis by pediatric cardiology specialists with UofL Physicians at Kosair Children’s Hospital. The UofL Physicians staff at the hospital read up to 2,500 echocardiograms a year.

Initially a state-funded program in the 1950s and 1960s, funding for the outreach van dried up in the late 1970s, leaving the pediatric cardiology clinical practice of the University of Louisville, now part of University of Louisville Physicians, to supply the funding and keep it going.

About University of Louisville Physicians

University of Louisville Physiciansisthe largest multispecialty physician practice in the Louisville region, with nearly 600 physicians in more than 78 specialties and subspecialties, including primary care. Our doctors are the professors and researchers of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, teaching tomorrow’s physicians and leading research into medical advancements. For more information, visit www.uoflphysicians.com.

About the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center

The University of Louisville Health Sciences Center is the city’s only academic medical center. Approximately 1,000 faculty members are involved in education, research and clinical care.  The UofL HSC is home to more than 650 medical and dental residents, 3,000 students pursuing degrees in health-related fields within the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Public Health and Information Sciences, as well as 14 interdisciplinary centers and institutes. Approximately $140 million in extramural funding enables researchers to uncover the causes of disease and better ways to prevent, treat and cure those diseases. Patients are seen at the Ambulatory Care Building, The James Graham Brown Cancer Center, the UofL Physicians Outpatient Center and University Hospital, which is the primary adult teaching hospital for the School of Medicine. University Hospital’s public mission is steeped in history and now is most clearly visible through its provision of nearly $90 million of health care to the uninsured annually.

One of the many functions of the brain is to collect and process visual information so that people know how to respond to the movement of objects around them. A study published in July in The Journal of Neuroscience by researchers at the University of Louisville provides a new concept for how the brain functions to achieve this.

“Looking at the visual pathways of the brain, it had been thought that the thalamus primarily filtered visual signals that it received from the retina,” said Martha Bickford, Ph.D., professor of anatomical biology sciences and neurobiology at the UofL. “We found that the thalamus plays a bigger role in that it actually may help to sort and interpret visual information so that the brain can accurately gauge the movement of surrounding objects”

Examining the visual pathways of mice, Bickford and her colleagues, including William Guido, Ph.D., chair of anatomical sciences and neurobiology at UofL, found that the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), a part of thalamus, not only serves as a filter of information, but may change the information in such a way that it helps us account for our own eye or body movements when tracking the movement of objects around us.

“It is very exciting to uncover this expanded role for the dLGN,” Bickford said. “We now have a new avenue to explore the relationships between sensory and motor pathways of the brain. Continued study of these relationships may help us to understand sensory deficits that occur in conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, other movement disorders and spatial and visual attention disorders.”

July 21, 2015

For the next two years, Aruni Bhatnagar, Ph.D., will have significant influence over the funding of certain types of scientific research as he leads a panel that considers grant applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Bhatnagar, the Smith and Lucille Gibson Chair in Medicine at the University of Louisville, will serve as chair of the 15-member Clinical and Integrative Cardiovascular Science Study Section, a part of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) that evaluates grant requests for patient-oriented research involving the cardiovascular system and related regulatory organ systems.

Bhatnagar is the director of the UofL Diabetes and Obesity Center, where he leads a group of 30 investigators focused on developing a better understanding of the cardiovascular complications of diabetes. His research focuses on the mechanisms by which oxidative stress affects cardiovascular function.

“Aruni Bhatnagar’s recognition by the NIH reflects the quality of research at the University of Louisville. Having him participate as the chair of this NIH study section elevates our programs even further on the national scale and emphasizes the importance of his work in the larger scientific community,” said David L. Dunn, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president for health affairs at UofL.

Members of the CSR study sections are selected based on their achievements in their scientific disciplines, demonstrated by their research accomplishments, publications and other activities. The study section chair is in place for a two-year term. Bhatnagar’s term began July 1, 2015 and runs through June 2017.

Bhatnagar says serving as a study section chair is both an honor and a responsibility.

“Being appointed as a chair of a study section is a clear recognition of the leadership role of a scientist, both in conducting research as well as in contributing to the discussion of specific research ideas and projects,” Bhatnagar said. “With a diminishing NIH budget, it is becoming increasingly important that only the best science is funded and that the new, untested ideas that have high potential are not subsumed by a process that favors the status quo and is reluctant to support innovative research.”

When Nemr Eid, M.D., joined the staff at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1988, he could not have guessed that his children would ultimately attend medical school there – all at the same time. As of July 26, when Eid’s youngest child, Sabine, received her white coat and formally became a medical student, all three children of Eid and his wife, Nada, are students in the UofL School of Medicine.

“When I think about it, it fills my heart with joy and with pride,” said Eid, chief of UofL’s division of pediatric pulmonology. “And to have them in the same medical school with me is even more joyful.”

At the White Coat Ceremony, held on July 26 at the Downtown Marriott (280 W. Jefferson), the UofL School of Medicine faculty and medical community members formally welcomed first-year medical students by presenting them with a white coat. The coats, a gift from the Greater Louisville Medical Society, are shorter than the physicians’ coats, and are worn until the student graduates from medical school. Once they received their coats, members of the incoming class recited the Declaration of Geneva, promising to serve humanity and honor the traditions of the medical profession.

Eid never assumed his children would follow in his footsteps. He encouraged them to pursue their own paths.

“We would sit at the dinner table and talk about what you want to be. I did not discourage them. I did not say ‘you should not be a doctor.’ But I never encouraged them, either,” Eid said. “I would tell them to ‘follow your dream; do whatever makes you happy.’ I never thought all three of them would go into medicine!”

Eid’s three children, Mark, Ryan and Sabine, each decided on a career in medicine via different routes. The eldest, Mark, originally set his sights on a career in economics or law. Sabine considered a career in broadcast communications. Only the middle child, Ryan, always knew he wanted to be a physician.

“I knew I would go into medicine since the third grade. Science was one of my passions,” Ryan said. “I also have always been interested in cultures and people and the world and travel. That took me to the University of Miami in Florida. It is the most diverse school in the country, so I have friends in China, the Cayman Islands, Europe and Africa.”

Mark enrolled as an undergraduate at UofL with a law degree in mind.

“I was a political science and economics major for my first two and a half years of college,” Mark said. However, he realized he missed science and appreciated his father’s relationships with his patients. So he backtracked to catch up on undergraduate science courses in preparation for medical school.

In 2013, both Mark and Ryan enrolled at UofL School of Medicine as members of the class of 2017.

Having also decided on a career in medicine, Sabine received her bachelor’s degree from UofL this spring with a major in biology, and will formally join her brothers in medical school as a member of the Class of 2019.

“I had the privilege of working with Dr. Nemr Eid on mutual patients with pediatric airway problems for many years. It has been such a treat to have his sons, Mark and Ryan, as medical students at UofL. Their strong intellect, commitment and altruistic spirit certainly came as no surprise,” said Toni Ganzel, dean of the UofL School of Medicine. “I’m delighted to see the Eid legacy continue at UofL and look forward to working with Sabine as she begins her medical school journey.”

Although they had individual mentors outside the family, each of the Eid children say their father inspired them to enter medicine through his attitude toward his work.

“He gets up every single morning and goes to work happy,” Sabine said. “He comes home every single evening happy. He loves what he does. He has never said anything negative. Hopefully, in the chapter I choose, I will wake up every morning and feel excited to go to work.”

They also credit their mother, Nada, for encouragement and support.

“She is a lawyer so she knows exactly what a rigorous curriculum is like. My mom has been there to help us through the tasks at hand from grade school and college and now med school,” Ryan said.

“Each of them has had a different journey that brought them to this day,” Dr. Eid said. “Each will have a different path that will propel them to their dream. It is up to them to follow that dream.”

About Pediatric Pulmonology – During his first ten years at UofL, Nemr Eid, M.D., was the only pediatric pulmonologist in Louisville. Although other physicians in his specialty now have joined him, a critical need for these physicians remains throughout the nation and in Kentucky, where there is only one pediatric pulmonologist for every 170,000 children. Under Eid’s direction, UofL began a pediatric pulmonology fellowship two years ago, but he hopes more physicians will pursue the specialty since those positions are not always filled.

The International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) has honored University of Louisville’s Roberto Bolli, M.D. for his contributions to cardiovascular science. The Peter Harris Distinguished Scientist Award, which recognizes a senior investigator for lifetime contributions of major discoveries in cardiovascular science, was presented to Bolli at the organization’s European Section meeting in Bordeaux, France earlier in July.

“This award is significant because it comes from an international community. I was chosen not by people I work more closely with in the United States, but by people from all over the world. It is truly an international recognition,” said Bolli, chief of UofL’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, director of the Institute of Molecular Cardiology and director of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, as well as vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine.

The Peter Harris Distinguished Scientist Award is the most prestigious award presented by the ISHR, an international organization devoted to the discovery and dissemination of knowledge in the cardiovascular sciences on a world-wide basis. The ISHR’s 3,000 members are affiliated with seven sections based on five continents.

As recipient of the 2015 award, Bolli received a $3,000 honorarium and presented a keynote lecture at the meeting on July 2 on the state of cell-based therapies for ischemic cardiomyopathy. His research is focused on the use of stem cells to treat patients with coronary artery disease. Bolli led the Louisville-based SCIPIO trial that pioneered treatment with a patient’s own heart stem cells to regenerate dead heart muscle. Larger studies are underway which could lead to widespread use of this treatment.

“Smaller studies, including what we did in Louisville, have shown promise and the data are encouraging. We are awaiting final demonstration that the cells are truly beneficial in patients,” Bolli said.

Bolli also has conducted research on preventing damage caused during heart attacks by studying ischemic preconditioning, the phenomenon in which heart muscle exposed to brief periods of stress becomes resistant to the tissue death that might be caused by a heart attack.

Zach feels “pretty good.” Sam wants to be “done with shots!” And Tyler finds it helps to “just keep thinking that at least I’m getting out of school.”

They are normal boys who had normal lives until cancer came into the picture. All have faced the disease for two years or more, with surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. All were diagnosed with various malignant solid tumors, went into remission and then relapsed.

Today, however, they and their parents are finding hope in a Phase I research study led by Kenneth G. Lucas, M.D., chief of the division of pediatric hematology/oncology and stem cell transplantation at the University of Louisville. Leading a team of his colleagues at Kosair Children’s Hospital and in the UofL Department of Pediatrics, Lucas is making progress in developing a vaccine that one day could possibly prevent recurrence of some childhood cancers.

Lucas began the trial – the only one of its kind – while on the faculty of Penn State in 2011. Coming to Louisville in 2012, he now has three patients enrolled in the trial. Another 13 have previously completed the regimen. He uses the patient’s own blood cells in developing the vaccine.

“The vaccine is designed to stimulate the patient’s immune system to attack specific tumor proteins, and then fight the tumor,” said Lucas, who also is the chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at Kosair Children’s Hospital.

The vaccine is prepared and frozen in a cell therapy lab and then thawed for injection. Patients come to UofL’s Kosair Charities Pediatric Clinical Research Unit for a week of chemotherapy that helps make the tumor cells express these cancer proteins. These proteins enable the tumors to be killed by immune cells that are stimulated by the vaccine.

The following two weeks are devoted to vaccination, followed by another two weeks of observation for side effects to the vaccine. The process is repeated four times, making the treatment take anywhere from four to five months. Thus far, the vaccine has been well tolerated by most patients, Lucas said.

Patients may be referred by their own physician or can self-refer, Lucas said. Anyone interested in the trial should contact KCPCRU@louisville.edu or 502-629-5820.

The trial is partially funded by the Children’s Hospital Foundation and raiseRED, a dance marathon fundraising effort organized by UofL students to support pediatric cancer research.

Sam Rosebrock, age 5, Morganton, N.C.

Like any 5-year-old, Sam Rosebrock of Morganton, N.C., is anxious prior to his injection.

“I don’t want a shot,” he repeatedly said amid tears as mom Denielle Rosebrock comforted him. After the injection, he asked her, “Are we done with our shots?” Hearing that there would be no more injections, he was happy to repeat, “Done with shots! Done with shots!”

Sam had neuroblastoma, a type of cancer most commonly found in young children that develops from immature nerve cells found in several areas of the body. Sam’s neuroblastoma was originally diagnosed in 2012 in the adrenal glands. Following chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, stem cell transplantation and antibody immunotherapy, he went into remission.

The cancer later came back in the groin area and left testicle. More chemo and immunotherapy followed, putting Sam into remission again. Sam’s oncologist in Charlotte, N.C., learned about the trial in Louisville and Denielle said it was easy to make the decision to enroll him.

“With neuroblastoma, even when you have no evidence of disease, the likelihood of it coming back is extremely high,” said Denielle, who with her husband, Mark, has another son, Isiah, age 10. “When you relapse, you have to do something.”

Zach Hartwell, age 20, Lyndonville, Vt.

Doing “something” also is uppermost in the mind of Bill Hartwell, father of 20-year-old Zach who was diagnosed in 2011 with a medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor found in children and occurring in the cerebellum, which is the part of brain located at the base of the skull, just above the brainstem. Bill, wife Nancy and Zach have been on a four-state odyssey since diagnosis, from their home in Lyndonville, Vt., to Dartmouth, N.H., where the diagnosis was confirmed, to treatment in Boston and now to Louisville.

Along the way, Zach had surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and more. He also experienced posterior fossa syndrome, a condition that affected his ability to move and speak.

Through a Facebook group, Parents of Kids with Medulloblastoma, Nancy learned about the experimental therapy.

“At 8 o’clock on a Saturday night, Nancy is checking Facebook and she saw information about Dr. Lucas and his trial, so she emailed him,” Bill said. “At 10 o’clock, he returns the email – it was just that quick – and says he thinks Zach may be eligible.”

Zach is the first patient in the trial with medulloblastoma. He receives a similar round of treatment as Sam: First week of chemotherapy, second and third weeks for vaccination, and fourth and fifth weeks for observation.

In speech halted by posterior fossa syndrome but still clear, Zach said, “I knew I was going to have to do something – chemo or radiation or both – and this just seemed like it was the better option.”

“To us, this treatment seems like a very logical thing to do, a very logical approach. And much less invasive than the other treatments he has had,” Bill said.

Tyler Foster, age 14, Beechmont, Ky.

The fact that the vaccine therapy is less invasive is a plus for Tyler Foster’s dad, Michael Foster of Beechmont, Ky.

“This is a lot milder than any other treatment he has had,” Michael said.  “I believe this has been the easiest treatment he has faced.”

Tyler is 14 and was originally diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma in 2013 in his right knee, femur and lung. It also is known as osteosarcoma and is a type of bone cancer. It often starts in the ends of the bones where new bone tissue forms as a young person grows.

After chemotherapy and surgeries, Tyler went into remission at Christmastime in 2013. In September 2014, the cancer came back, followed by more surgeries, including removing all of his femur and hip. He then underwent a rigorous chemotherapy regimen known as “ICE” – a three-drug combination of ifosamide, carboplatin and etoposide.

“It’s hard enough to hear your child has cancer. That’s a blow out of this world,” said Michael, who with wife Susan has another child, Alexis, age 20. “And then to hear it a second time is even harder.

“ICE was hard, very, very hard. We almost lost Tyler a couple of times. He had feeding tubes. He was vomiting. He vomited up around 17 liters (of fluid) in one day.

“So that was a pretty rocky road. But he got better and had radiation after that.”

Tyler speaks with the wisdom of a teenager who tests above his grade level but still is … well, a teenager.

“When I heard I had cancer, my first thought was that I was going to get out of school for awhile,” he said with a laugh.

The journey since, however, has the ginger-haired teen philosophical. “I just really have tried to not think too much about what was happening,” he said, “and just look towards the future, that one day, I can get over this.”

Hope for the future

That focus on the future is what keeps Bill Hartwell going, too. “We feel like this treatment is going to be the cure. People always talk about statistics, but we don’t even think about that kind of stuff.

“We saw this trial, the treatment seemed to make good sense, and so we think … this is going to cure Zach, and we’re going to move forward from there.”

Denielle Rosebrock has hope as well. “We don’t get ‘definites’ (definitive answers) because it is a trial and it’s very new,” she said. “We also know that participating in the trial is one of our choices. We have to do something to prevent the cancer from coming back. We know there is a lot of promise in it.”

“If this works, man, it would be terrific for other kids that face this,” said Michael Foster. Adds Tyler: “It helps me to know that if this does work, it wouldn’t put other kids through the same thing I’ve been through.”

HD digital video accompanying this story is available at https://youtu.be/jvUks4uwl9U. Print-quality still photos can be found at http://louisville.edu/medicine/news/photos-childhood-cancer-vaccine-research-at-uofl-kosair-childrens-hospital-1. Video and still photography furnished byKosair Children’s Hospital.