MEMPHIS, Tenn. — St. Jude Research Hospital confirmed to WREG it will be implementing a $7 billion plan that will add thousands of jobs and build on its success of fighting childhood cancers.

A spokesperson with the hospital said it would be implemented in the next six years.

“Our goal is to accelerate progress,” said President and CEO James Downing, MD.  “How do we use our resources and our position and our knowledge to do that? We’re at a point in our hospital’s history where it’s clear we can do more. Because of our success, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to establish an agenda that will accelerate progress toward advancing cures for pediatric catastrophic diseases. We must do what others cannot do.”

Once implemented, the hospital said the plan would focus on three key areas: clinical care, research, and global involvement.

Clinical Care

In order to make strides against these diseases, the hospital said they would have to get more children involved in its clinical trials as well as create new programs.

That would include bringing back those patients who have successfully completed treatment to be apart of the St. Judge LIFE Program.

This program’s aim is to increase the quality and length of a former patient’s life for future and current survivors.

Another big step the hospital will be taking is the creation of a Clinical Research Consortium.

Right now, there are certain diseases like Infant Leukemia that researchers rarely come into contact with but maybe a couple of times a year.

Because of that, the hospital said there isn’t any progress made in treating those diseases and conducting research.

With the news consortium, researchers would come together to collaborate and make progress in those areas.

Research

Along the same lines, St. Jude will also make a bigger push towards collaborating with professionals around the world to further research on childhood cancers.

A news release stated right now there are certain gaps in our knowledge of certain diseases.

St. Jude is dedicated to filling in those gaps using the world’s most innovative thinkers and leading scientists.

Global Vision

Also, St. Jude said it was dedicated to helping not only the children here in the United States but also those around the world suffering from childhood diseases by expanding it International Outreach Program.

Today, the program has 24 partner sites in 17 countries around the wold.

To date, they have increased the cancer survival rate in multiple countries like El Salvador and Brazil, but there is still a long way to go.

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