The Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy (CSP) applauds the $96 million investment that an anonymous donor is providing to Children’s National Hospital. This infusion of funding will address all aspects of health and well-being for children diagnosed with brain cancer, at Children’s National and beyond. It will provide capital to conduct research focused on the development of safer and more effective therapies for children with brain cancer, driving cellular immunotherapy, low-intensity focused ultrasound, neurosurgery innovation, and precision medicine. It will also fund the development of programs that nurture patient and family resilience and well-being.

In partnership with the donor family and Children’s National Hospital, CSP is proud to have played a role in identifying the unique ways in which philanthropic capital could fill gaps in the current funding landscape, providing sustained and flexible seed funding to drive innovative research and a path to greater understanding of the range of childhood brain tumors. Coupled with a program designed to focus on building infrastructure for international collaboration and information-sharing, this transformative program is poised to create a fundamental shift in the understanding of the rarest childhood brain tumors.

An investment of this magnitude specifically focused on rare pediatric brain cancers is incredibly uncommon. Federal funding for childhood cancer research is only 4–8 percent of the National Cancer Institute budget. This investment is desperately needed to develop fundamental knowledge of childhood brain tumor biology, bridge the translational research gap, and advance promising therapeutic development. This type of large-scale, program-focused philanthropy can be life-changing for the children living with rare brain cancers and the family members who love and care for them. The program resulting from this funding creates a foundation that other researchers can build on to improve quality of life for children living with and surviving brain cancer. We look forward to seeing the impact of this investment in the long term.

Learn more about this milestone in brain research funding.