Hyundai brings hope for pediatric cancer patients

Patients, family, faculty and staff were "on hand" to celebrate as Branko Cuglievan, M.D., accepted a $200,000 grant from Hyundai Hope on Wheels in September. The funds will support collaborative preclinical research in Ewing's sarcoma. Cuglievan began his research as a fellow at MD Anderson where he used a microdevice in mice to determine if local drug delivery can identify and predict shrinking tumor cells within a 24-hour period.

“I'm thankful to Hyundai for supporting my research,” says Cuglievan, who recently accepted an assistant professor clinical faculty position at MD Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital. “Results will help clear the path for much-needed clinical trials and provide an opportunity to deliver a more effective and less toxic therapy in a shorter amount of time.”

The celebration outside the Lowry and Peggy Mays Clinic allowed patients at MD Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital to commemorate Hyundai's support by dipping their hands in brightly colored paint and placing them ceremoniously on a 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe, as well as on Cuglievan's lab coat. The handprints were a colorful reminder of Childhood Cancer Awareness month and represented the tens of thousands of pediatric cancer patients all over the country.

"We're extremely grateful to Hyundai Hope on Wheels for their generosity and commitment to fighting childhood cancer across the U.S.," said Stephen Hahn, M.D., chief medical executive at MD Anderson. "Through this collaboration, we can provide better treatment options for patients today and in the future."

Hyundai and a group of New England-area car dealers created Hyundai Hope on Wheels to help kids across the country fight cancer. The nonprofit organization has contributed more than $145 million to pediatric cancer research over more than two decades. In 2018, it supported 38 young investigators and scholars with more than $14 million in grants.