LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas awarded Dr. Erin Barr $1.4 million to expand pediatric cancer clinical trials in West Texas.
An estimated 15,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Dr. Erin Barr, a pediatric hematologist oncologist, has been part of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center for the past eight years. Her goal is to conduct cancer research to provide children the best care possible.
“We’ve been able to build pediatric cancer expertise here at Texas Tech, both clinically here at Texas Tech and in the labs and collaborating to bring out new drugs, and this award is really going to help us build and expand on the clinical trials through organizations like the Children’s Oncology Group that we can offer patients locally here in west Texas,” Barr said.
The new drugs will turn into new therapies for kids with cancer. Dr. Patrick Reynolds, a physician scientist with TTUHSC, is taking part in those efforts.
“We recognize the need to fund not just people in the laboratory during research, but also people that are actually doing clinical trials. It’s an important advance that CPRIT has focused on. CPRIT is also very focused on making sure that childhood cancer is well-funded, something that is under funded nationally,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the grant will look to bring and retain clinical investigators into regions of Texas that don’t have them.
“There are tons of them in Houston and Dallas, but there are very, very few Dr. Barr’s out in West Texas,” Reynolds said.
The grant allows West Texas families the opportunity to get care at home instead of having to travel long distances.
“West Texas is you know doing great things on a national scale, but also helping those people who help get us where we’re going as well,” Barr said.
The drugs currently in development can make an impact as they look to make the market and be accessible to everyone nationwide.
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