Great news for SSBTR! We have received commitments from both Trends Charitable Foundation and the Thunderbirds to each give us $5000 grants. This is outstanding- thank you to all involved.

Don’t forget to keep using Goodsearch.com. By typing in SSBTR as your charity, a penny is donated to us every time you search. This might seem small, but it really adds up!

As part of our continuing search for other fundraising activities, there will be a comedy/coffee house/game night on February 1^st at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. There will be food, prizes, and lots of fun, so spread the word! More details to come, but in the mean time, keep up the good work.

Remember that all schools that have signed up to help with the walk-a-thon will be listed both here and on the T-shirts, so encourage your school to get involved.

If anyone has any ideas for SSBTR, feel free to comment here about what you think will help raise money for brain tumor research!

     Teenagers might seem unlikely candidates for medical philanthropy but the volunteer members of Students Supporting Brain Tumor Research (SSBTR) have a collective interest in their cause. Other than leukemia, brain tumors are the number-one cancer killer of children up to age 18.  To further their support of brain tumor research in the community, the teens in Valley-based SSBTR have established a fellowship for a post-graduate student interested in the medical field to work in the Neuro-Oncology Laboratory at Barrow.   Julia Mackey, a 2007 NAU grad who earned a bachelor of science in chemistry with a minor in biology, is the recipient of the first SSBTR fellowship. The fellowship includes a one-year $24,000 stipend plus benefits to work under the direction of the lab’s director, Adrienne C. Scheck, PhD.    “When I saw the job opening, I said, ‘That’s me,’” says Mackey, who started her fellowship in July and plans to pursue an MD/PhD program next year. Mackey is working directly with Dr. Scheck and her staff, mostly investigating therapy-resistant brain tumors.   According to Dr. Scheck, Mackey’s experience at Barrow will include presenting at a major scientific conference as well as publishing at least one paper on brain-tumor research.