Promising News - December 2014

H a n ds on

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F R O M C H I L D R E N’S M E D I C A L C E N T E R F O U N DAT I O N

8 2014

news

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C H I L D R E N ’ S :

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Hyundai Hope On Wheels Scholar to study more effective way to treat childhood sarcomas

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ITH THE HELP

of a $250,000

on cancerous tumors in children.

Children’s Medical Center Foundation is

Dr. Laetsch was named a Hyundai

one of 36 recipients in the U.S. to receive

Hyundai Hope

Scholar in September at an event at

one of the Hyundai Scholar grants, a total of

On Wheels

Children’s. Several children, all of whom

$9 million, which was awarded in honor of

grant, Dr. Ted

have been treated or are currently being

National Childhood Cancer Awareness

Laetsch, a pediatrician at Children’s Medical

treated in the Pauline Allen Gill Center for

month. Over the past 16 years, the

Center and an assistant professor of

Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s,

nonprofit organization of Hyundai Motor

pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical

participated in a handprint ceremony, in

America has distributed more than

Center, wants to harness the power of

which they decorated a white 2014 Hyundai

$87 million for pediatric cancer research.

ultrasound technology and use it to zero in

Sonata with their colorfully painted hands.

Continued on page 12

“This is promising research for

children with cancer.”

2 I PROMISING

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I December 2014

– Dr. Ted Laetsch

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C H I L D R E N ’ S :

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At Children’s, ‘ You’re in the best hands’ Julia Brown

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N D E C E M B E R 201 3 , Julia Brown was under a towering

stack of blankets with only her face visible. Insertion of her port for chemotherapy had caused septic shock.

Eight months later, the 9-year-old is joking and telling

stories about the care she received in the Pauline Allen

Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Medical Center.

“It’s a very supportive place. You shouldn’t be afraid because there are a lot of kids that go there. The doctors are super smart, and the nurses are super sweet,” said Julia, of Frisco, Texas. “You feel awesome there. You feel like a hero.”

Julia, in fact, was recently named as an Honored Hero by the

“reputation, Children’s has a great and I’ve always

heard that. We were totally impressed; the doctors, the staff, and all the nurses are top-notch.”

– Jennifer Brown

Gill Center for the Children Helping Children Junior Singles Tennis Tournament, presented by Geico, which took place in September at the High Point Tennis Center in Plano, Texas.

Julia is currently in the maintenance stage of her treatment for leukemia. Chemotherapy treatments have dropped to only once a month and spinal taps every three months. Eventually she will only need one pill a day.

“We’ve gone through the hardest part,” her mother, Jennifer Brown, said. “The doctors did a great job explaining it and taking their time. They sat with us for a long time.”

In addition to septic shock, Julia sustained several fevers and had to be hospitalized for nearly 70 days. She had eight days of cranial radiation and many days of chemotherapy. Things were made easier with clowns, crafts, and visits from the Dallas Stars and Dallas Cowboys.

The excellent level of care Children’s offers was constantly brought to bear in her fight against leukemia – and it pulled her through.

“Children’s has a great reputation, and I’ve always heard that.

We were totally impressed; the doctors, the staff, and all the nurses are top-notch. All the programs have been amazing,” Mrs. Brown said. “If you have your child treated for anything, no matter what it is, from a broken arm to leukemia, I would highly recom-

Julia Brown leaves her mark at Hyundai Hope on Wheels.

mend it. You’re in the best hands.” i

December 2014

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Giving back starts early for 4-year-old Westyn Bates

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E S T Y N B AT E S

“ He

was only 4 years old when he had

realizes that

two surgeries

he’s donated, and kids get to see it.”

and went

through 16 rounds of chemotherapy. It took 21 blood transfusions and 76 trips to

the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and

– Mark Bates

Blood Disorders at Children’s Medical Center Dallas before he would beat the Ewing sarcoma that had affected his bones.

Mark, Westyn , and Patrice Bates

“I’m trying to say this without start-

scape, and he immediately knew the little boy’s donation was something meaningful.

It’s one of the kinds of cancers for

ing to cry, but it really means a lot,” said

which Dr. Ted Laetsch, who recently was

Westyn’s father, Mark Bates. “He realizes

awarded a $250,000 grant from Hyundai

that he’s donated, and kids get to see it.

because I know he’ll be down here looking

Hope on Wheels, hopes to find better treat-

We want him to understand that so as he

for them,’ ” Felder recalled.

ments. (See related story on page 2.)

grows up he’ll continue doing charitable

Despite all the hardship, the Midlothian boy has taken the time to think of others

things like that but on a larger scale.”

Westyn’s mother, Patrice Bates, said

“I said, ‘I’ll put them up right away

Mr. Bates said the train conductor’s effort to be creative and string the action figures up on a zip line instead of just

and to give back to the hospital that saved

when her son was hospitalized, she often

standing them up somewhere among the

his life. He donated his favorite action

brought him down to see the elaborate

trains is emblematic of how Children’s staff

figures to the famous hospital train set so

train set, sometimes pulling his IV along

always went the extra mile for his son – and

they would become part of the landscape

with him, as a way to have a break from

saved his life.

and bring enjoyment to other children in

treatments and a distraction from the stress

the hospital.

of hospitalization.

Now 5 years old and in full remission,

“We’re completely into giving back,”

“The hospital was excellent. It looked to me as if they were doing everything they could do,” Mr. Bates said. “We thought it

Westyn’s hair is growing back, and he

she said. “We know what it took to get him

was the most wonderful place in the world.

returns to Children’s every few months for

through this, so for him to have an oppor-

If you have a child that is sick that is the

follow-up exams. He always revisits the

tunity to give back is very special to us.”

place to go.”

train set to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja

Felder Fitzgerald, the Children’s train

Westyn’s donation serves as an inspira-

Turtle figures he donated. The figures look

conductor who built the popular train set

tion for others to give to Children’s this

like they are zip-lining down from one of

25 years ago and maintains it to this day,

holiday season. Supporters can donate by

the buildings. On the bottom of the figures’

said Westyn gave him the four Ninja Turtle

going to give.childrens.com. i

feet is Westyn’s name.

figures to become part of the train set land-

4 I PROMISING

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I December 2014

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Riding the rails 25 years later

Enduring gift delights children, young and old

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WENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Two of the original group who built

Maidie Bradford Goddard

the set are still here, maintaining the trains

could not have imagined

and changing the set’s decorations

the endless hours of joy her

to reflect the seasons and holidays.

bequest to Children’s Medi-

The train landscape is

cal Center Foundation would have on the

divided into three sections.

millions of children and families who have

One is based on the Garden

enjoyed Children’s elaborate trainscape in

of the Gods, a Colorado park

the hospital through the years.

known for its towering rock

The two-story train exhibit – the largest

formations. The middle land-

indoor model train set in the nation –

scape is based on Pikes Peak,

contains such detail, it stops people in their

and the other is based on

tracks, and it helps kids pick up steam when

Dallas with the Dallas skyline

they need a break from their treatments.

and familiar street exits on

The set was built, and continues to be sustained, with a $250,000 endowment

the highway signs.

The Dallas portion is also

Westyn Bates (top) points out the action figures he donated, while

from Mrs. Goddard, a granddaughter of Tom

full of action figures, figurines Connie Baldwin-Martinez decorates the tracks for the holidays.

L. Bradford Sr., one of Children’s founders.

and similar toys that children

Mrs. Goddard’s family liked the train project

love spotting and pointing out. Some are

so much that they matched the original gift,

donated by former patients. (See related

and the Oklahoma-based Noble Foundation

story on Westyn Bates on page 4.)

also made a trainscape contribution in her

“I love it when the kids enjoy the trains.

the landscape’s design,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

The detailed rocks are based on a mold Felder made from a creek near his house.

“It’s just walls and walls of limestone, and

honor. These enduring gifts are examples

I pay attention to what they look at, and it

of how donations can live on through the

means a lot to me,” said Felder Fitzgerald,

years for the benefit of special projects.

who built the set 25 years ago with Connie

ous trees, drilling holes and inserting each

Baldwin-Martinez and several others.

branch by hand. In the scene of Indians gath-

At any given time, eight G-scale model

it’s got all kinds of detail in it,” he said.

Ms. Baldwin-Martinez made the numer-

trains, hand-assembled in Germany by the

The attention to detail they put into

L.G.B. Co., circle on more than 2,000 feet of

making the set is astounding. Mr. Fitzger-

track. Trains are on the go on several levels

ald handmade every miniature brick on the

and through different landscapes – and

detailed retaining walls that hold up parts

a real joy to see how many children have

children can often be seen rapt with atten-

of the track.

enjoyed it over the years,” she said. “It means

tion watching the busy trains and taking in all the landscape’s detail.

“We’d go down to the library and thumb

ered on a mesa, they are wearing clothes made from scraps or real deerskin.

“It was a lot of work to build it but also

a lot to them, so it means a lot to us.” i

through old Western books to get ideas for December 2014

I PROMISING news I 5

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Former Children’s chaplain honored with endowed chair in pastoral education

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EV. PRISCILLA WOOD NEAVES performed many

emotionally, but she never hesitated to respond compassionate-

dozens of weddings, baptisms and funerals and de-

ly. Overnight duty shifts in the Children’s emergency room during

livered hundreds of sermons as a United Methodist

the 1990s gave her a perspective on life and death that she

minister, but it was her time spent as a chaplain, in

recalled more than a decade later when confronted with her own

particular at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, that

fatal diagnosis.

meant the most to her.

Her husband, Dr. Bill Neaves chose to honor that commitment

“Priscilla responded by saying, ‘I know firsthand that much worse things happen to people than what’s happening to me.’

by establishing the Chaplain Priscilla Wood Neaves Chair in Clinical

Her high regard for the institutional mission and the dedication

Pastoral Education with a $500,857 gift to Children’s Medical Cen-

of the staff at Children’s awakened in Priscilla the ambition to

ter Foundation. A few years ago, Rev. Neaves was diagnosed with

bequeath an endowment for the Clinical Pastoral Education Pro-

cortical neurodegenerative disease; she is now in hospice care.

gram. I am delighted that my former colleagues at UT Southwest-

Dr. Neaves, who is president emeritus of the Stowers Institute

ern who are now at Children’s – Kern Wildenthal and Cyndi Bassel

for Medical Research in Kansas City, Mo., served as president and

– helped me fulfill Priscilla’s wish. Nothing could be so gratifying

CEO of the Institute from 2000 to 2009 and as CEO until 2010.

to Priscilla as being perpetually associated with Clinical Pastoral

Prior to that he spent more than 20 years at UT Southwestern

Education at Children’s.”

Medical Center in leadership roles, including dean of the gradu-

Priscilla Wood was born in 1945 in Rotan, Texas, and attended

ate school and medical school, and as the first executive vice

school in the nearby town of Spur, where she and her future

president for academic affairs. He plans to grow the endowment

husband first noticed each other at an Easter egg hunt. She was

in pastoral education to $1 million.

in the first grade; he was in the second. Dr. Neaves said they rec-

“Priscilla’s call to ministry compelled her to help people, and she believed victims of trauma and their distraught families expe-

ognized that they had important things in common.

“We were notorious bookworms,” he explained. “Our first date

rienced the most intense need for pastoral care,” Dr. Neaves said.

occurred when our parents agreed to take us to the bookmobile’s

“Helping severely injured children and their loved ones during

monthly visit to Spur.”

crises in the emergency room exhausted Priscilla physically and

“I can’t

imagine a better

name to go with the chair of

the director.”

– Chaplain Doug Watts 6 I PROMISING

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I December 2014

Dr. Neaves said young Priscilla received the call to ministry around this same time, at age 11. “Her kindly pastor told her that he was so sorry, but only men could be pastors.”

That was the same year – 1956 – that the United Methodist Church (UMC) authorized the ordination of women.

Continued on page 11

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Children’s ‘hearer of stories’ creates sanctuary for patients

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H A P L A I N Doug Watts,

Priscilla Wood Neaves Chair in Clinical

Children’s director of

Pastoral Education will preserve by making

pastoral care, has had

the director of pastoral care’s post an

an impact on patients

endowed position.

at Children’s that

stretches back decades.

Amber Adair first arrived at Children’s

A $500,000 gift from Dr. William B. Neaves, was made to Children’s Medical Center Foundation to honor his wife’s many

Medical Center at age 4 for a surgery of a

years of service as a chaplain in several

tumor on her optic nerve. Because she has

hospitals, including the emergency room

a form of neurofibromatosis that requires

at Children’s, the cancer ward at Parkland

staff chaplains and seven residents in the

numerous surgeries to remove tumors that

Memorial Hospital and the clinics at Texas

Clinical Pastoral Education program. He esti-

form on various organs, she returned to

Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

mates that his office has between 90,000 and

Chaplain Doug Watts

Chaplain Watts said the gift has real

100,000 pastoral encounters with patients,

whom she formed a deep bond with is

meaning because it honors a life of pasto-

family and staff a year. Encounters include

Chaplain Watts.

ral service.

everything from simply listening to parents

Children’s on many occasions. One person

Ms. Adair, now 24, said Chaplain Watts

“I often say the chaplain’s job is to be a

and children, praying with them, reading

met with her many times for friendly talks or

hearer of a person’s story. That’s what we do,

Scripture the family finds relevant or engag-

simple prayers and made the trying times

and that’s often how I introduce myself to

ing the children in “Godly Play,” an innovative

much easier.

people,” Chaplain Watts said. “Chaplains ba-

program that allows children to play out a

sically come by to hear your story – and care

story from sacred texts in a way that they can

and that everything was going to be OK. He

about hearing your story – and, once you

put it in the context of their own experience

just made you feel at ease with everything,”

hear the story, all kinds of avenues open up.”

and find their own meaning in it.

“He was friendly. He made you feel safe

she said. “When you go in for surgery, and

Chaplain Watts earned his Master of

“It’s not about whether they attend a

you’re hearing all this stuff that worries you,

Divinity from Southern Baptist Theologi-

church or a mosque or a synagogue. It’s more

it helps if you have that one person that can

cal Seminary in Louisville, Ken., in 1985. He

about their development as a human being,”

help you out and just relax you, and they’re

worked as a chaplain at Children’s from

Chaplain Watts said. “We all have a spiritual-

right down the hall if you need them.”

1992 to 1996 and then served as pastoral

ity. It just gets expressed in different ways. We

care director at a Louisiana hospital for

believe that we’re responsible to help nurture

three years.

that in a child. I think children in the hospital

Chaplain Watts later attended Amber’s junior high school graduation, high school graduation and junior college graduation.

This is Chaplain Watts’ life work, and it is the type of service that the new Chaplain

He returned to Children’s in 2000 as

need the same thing every child needs. They

associate director of pastoral care and

need to be seen as valued, and they need to

became director in 2009. He oversees three

be honored.” i

December 2014

I PROMISING news I 7

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C H I L D R E N ’ S

R E S E A R C H

New CRI scientist leads fifth laboratory

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R E S E A R C H H I G H L I G H T S

New technique identifies mesenchymal stem cells

Jian Xu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in the CRI and of Pediatrics CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research

M

E S E N C H Y M A L stem cells (MSCs)

are the primary cells involved in

bone formation and repair after injury, but

T

identifying and characterizing MSCs in the H E R E ’ S E V E R Y R E A S O N to

body has been difficult.

believe that Dr. Jian Xu’s work

Now, however, CRI scientists under

is going to produce significant

the direction of Dr. Sean Morrison have

results for the Children’s Medical Center

developed new techniques that attach a

Research Institute at UT Southwestern

“biomarker” to MSCs, enabling them to be

(CRI). He’s already contributed to signifi-

localized and characterized. This finding sig-

cant scientific discoveries, and his research

nificantly advances the field of MSC biology

is a perfect match for CRI’s mission.

and opens up new possibilities for treating

Dr. Jian Xu became the CRI’s fifth faculty member in September. His recruitment was generously supported by the

“C RI

s e e k s to under-

stand the biological basis of

bone fractures and cartilage injuries.

“We found that a protein known as a

disease, and I have dedicated

leptin receptor can serve as a biomarker

Moody Foundation. His laboratory will

all my work to this.”

to accurately identify MSCs in adult

focus on childhood leukemia with the

— Dr. Jian Xu

long-term goal of understanding stem cell

bone marrow,” said Dr. Morrison, director of the CRI and principal investigator

development and how misregulation can

has little chance if scientists don’t first

of the Hamon Laboratory for Stem Cell

cause cancer.

have a full understanding of disease. CRI

and Cancer Biology. Dr. Morrison is also a

is a leader in research because the people

professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern,

of leading research institutions, and we

here know that the basic science must be

holder of the Mary McDermott Cook Chair

were fortunate to succeed in recruiting him

understood first.”

in Pediatric Genetics, a Howard Hughes

“Dr. Xu was highly sought by a number

to Dallas,” said Dr. Sean Morrison, director

Dr. Xu earned a Ph.D. at the University

Medical Institute investigator, and a Cancer

of the CRI and principal investigator of

of California, Los Angeles, and was a Helen

Prevention and Research Institute of Texas

the Hamon Laboratory for Stem Cell and

Hay Whitney Fellow at Boston Children’s

Scholar in Cancer Research. i

Cancer Biology.

Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Dr. Xu said: “CRI seeks to understand

before moving to Dallas. His work on stem

the biological basis of disease, and I have

cells has resulted in articles in the Proceed-

dedicated all my work to this. Develop-

ings of the National Academy of Sciences

ment of new drugs and new treatments

and Genes & Development. i

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Mechanism found in metabolic pathway that fuels cancers

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R E S E A R C H T E A M led by Dr. Ralph

DeBerardinis has taken a significant

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the code of an atypical metabol-

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ic pathway that

E S E A R C H E R S at the CRI have identi-

fied a gene that contributes to the

allows certain

development of several childhood cancers.

cancerous tumors

The study was conducted in mice, but if the Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis

They have identified the triggering mechanism that plays a key role in causing a series of energy-generating chemical reactions, known as the Krebs cycle, to run in reverse.

“With this finding, we have learned there are particular enzymes that work together to enable the reverse pathway to function, much like the tiny gears that turn in opposite directions to power a mechanical clock,” said Dr. DeBerardinis, director of CRI Genetic and Metabolic Disease Program and associate professor in the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, and of pediatrics at UT Southwestern. He also holds the Joel B. Steinberg, M.D., Chair in Pediatrics and is a Sowell Family Scholar in Medical Research.

findings prove to be applicable to humans, the research could lead to new strategies for treating childhood cancers.

“We have shown that Lin28b – a gene that is normally turned on in fetal but not adult tissues – is active in several childhood cancers, including neuroblastoma, Wilms’ tumor and hepatoblastoma, the most common liver cancer in pediatric patients,” said Dr. Hao Zhu, a principal investigator at the CRI, assistant professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at UT Southwestern, and a CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research. “We found that overproduction of Lin28b specifically causes hepatoblastoma, while blocking Lin28b impairs the cancer’s growth.”

Further research in Dr. Zhu’s lab will seek to determine if the blocking that works in mice tumors is also effective in humans. i

The identification of the mechanism could provide a future target for drugs that would attack tumors that rely upon the reverse pathway to provide energy for growth. Tumors of this type tend to be difficult for oncologists to treat because

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H I G H L I G H T S

CRI scientists pinpoint gene that promotes childhood cancers

step in cracking

to thrive.

R E S E A R C H

“As we continue to recruit the best scientists, take risks to solve important problems and integrate science with medicine, we are creating a culture of innovation at CRI that is yielding exciting discoveries and profound opportunities,” said Dr. Sean Morrison, director of the CRI. Currently employing 70 biomedical researchers and staff, CRI has succeeded in recruiting top-tier faculty in each of its first three years of operation. A number of high-impact discoveries have already been made at CRI. So far in 2014, CRI researchers have published 18 papers in scientific journals, of which five were published in the highest-impact journals. In 2013, CRI researchers published 24 papers in scientific journals, of which 10 were published in the highest-impact journals.

CRI’s published discoveries are already leading to clinical trials to test new therapies for incurable diseases, including a Phase 1B clinical trial that is now underway to assess a novel drug combination in stage IV melanoma patients based on discoveries made in Dr. Morrison’s laboratory. CRI researchers also have been exceptionally successful at

CRI named Innovation Catalyst

by Dallas Regional Chamber

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leveraging philanthropic investments with extramural grant funding from the Cancer

HE CHILDREN’S MEDICAL CENTER

Prevention and Research Institute of Texas,

Research Institute at UT Southwestern

the National Institutes of Health, the Howard

has been named by the Dallas Regional

Hughes Medical Institute, and other medi-

cells using the atypical pathway seem to

Chamber as a 2014 Innovation Catalyst

cal research organizations. Overall since its

resist chemotherapy. This new discovery

award recipient. It is an award given annual-

inception, CRI has attracted $37 million in

may provide a way to starve and kill

ly to a company or institution that strength-

extramural grant funding, an exceptional

the tumors. i

ens the region’s capacity for innovation.

figure for a new institute. i

December 2014

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Regents name UT Southwestern biomedical building in honor of Dr. Kern Wildenthal

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H E B U I L D I N G that houses the Children’s Medical

Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern has been named for the president of Children’s Medical Center Foundation, Dr. Kern Wildenthal.

In recognition of his visionary leadership as

president of UT Southwestern Medical Center for 22 years, the University of Texas System Board of Regents named the newest biomedical research tower on the UT Southwestern North Campus in his honor.

Begun in 2007 and completed in 2011, the newly named C. Kern Wildenthal Research Building encompasses 355,469 square feet. It is the sixth major tower to be built on the 90-acre North Campus tract that was acquired by the medical center during Dr. Wildenthal’s presidency from 1986 to 2008.

“To have my name on a building in the midst of facilities and

Dr. Kern Wildenthal, president of Children’s Medical Center Foundation and president emeritus of UT Southwestern Medical Center

ments of Neurology, Microbiology, Dermatology and Cell Biology, and the graduate school’s Rolf and Ute Haberecht Administration

programs named for some of our community’s most respected

and Academic Center. The entry lobby features a valuable folk art

citizens is a great honor, and I am grateful to the UT Regents for

collection donated by Roger Horchow and his late wife, Carolyn.

this recognition,” said Dr. Kern Wildenthal, who was named

Dr. Wildenthal’s career in medicine began when he gradu-

president emeritus of UT Southwestern in 2013. Others honored

ated from Southwestern Medical School in 1964 at age 22. After

on the campus include Harold and Annette Simmons, Peter and

graduating, he trained at Bellevue Hospital in New York, Parkland

Edith O’Donnell, Nancy and Jake Hamon, T. Boone Pickens, Bill and

Memorial Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, and the Uni-

Rita Clements, Sadie and Charlie Seay, Monty and Tex Moncrief,

versity of Cambridge in England, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1970.

Caren and Vin Prothro, Paul Bass, Mary Nell and Ralph Rogers, Mar-

He returned to Dallas to join the UT Southwestern faculty, where

got and Ross Perot, Cecil and Ida Green, Margaret and Eugene Mc-

he earned tenure in one year, then was awarded a Guggenheim

Dermott, Erik Jonsson, Donald Zale, and Charles Sprague, among

Fellowship to conduct further research at Cambridge.

many others. “It feels overwhelming to be listed among leaders

Upon his return to UT Southwestern in 1976, he was selected

such as these, who have been staunch supporters of UT South-

dean of the graduate school. Four years later, at the age of 38, he

western for decades and who also have been personal friends

was named dean of the medical school – the youngest dean of

whom I greatly admire,” Dr. Wildenthal said. The 12-story, $216

any American medical school. In 1986, he became only the second

million Wildenthal tower also houses the medical school’s depart-

president of UT Southwestern. i

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FORMER CHILDREN’S CHAPLAIN Continued from page 6

P

riscilla married her childhood sweetheart in 1965 and

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2010, she served pro bono publico as a

preserved through the years and collected

full-time chaplain of Carroll County

a sampling in a newly published book titled

Memorial Hospital.

Sermons and Meditations.

“This tribute to Priscilla is something

“Priscilla preached beautifully,

graduated a year later from

that will benefit others in perpetuity in a

eloquently and spiritually,” Dr. Neaves

Boston University with a degree

manner that is uniquely appropriate for all

wrote in the Afterward of the collection.

in sociology. Their first child was born in

she did and stood for,” said Dr. Kern

He said the 15 to 20 hours of preparation

1968, and their second in 1972. After a

Wildenthal, president of Children’s Medical

that went into each 15-minute sermon

decade of childrearing, she enrolled in

Center Foundation and president emeritus

made choosing the best very difficult.

Perkins School of Theology and became an

of UT Southwestern. “My most fulfilling

Included in the text is the credo she wrote

ordained Deacon in the Central Texas

moments since moving to Children’s

in 1987 for her ordination as Elder. The ISBN

Conference of the UMC. She earned a

occurred when I first learned from Bill

number of the book is 1-934424-02-1. Dr.

Master of Theology cum laude from

Neaves about this touching gift, and then

Neaves will place copies in the Bridwell

Southern Methodist University in 1985 and

when I called Doug Watts, our director of

Library at Perkins School of Theology and

received Elder ordination in 1987.

pastoral care, to inform him of the endow-

will transfer the copyright to Abingdon

ment and what it symbolizes.”

Press as a royalty-free gift to the United

She was associate pastor at Martin United Methodist Church in Bedford, Texas,

Chaplain Watts, whose time in the

and at First United Methodist Church in

chaplaincy program at Children’s in the

Arlington, Texas. After several years, she

mid-1990s intersected with Chaplain

accepted an appointment as director of

Neaves’ tenure, noted that this is the first

development at Perkins, where she suc-

major gift ever given in honor of a former

cessfully led fundraising efforts. She missed

chaplain. He will be the inaugural holder of

ministry, however, and decided to enroll

the Chaplain Priscilla Wood Neaves Chair in

in the Clinical Pastoral Education Program

Clinical Pastoral Education.

at Children’s. For a decade, she served

“It seems very significant to me that

as a chaplain in the emergency room at

someone who came here to minister to

Children’s, in the cancer ward at Parkland

the children and families and staff in this

Memorial Hospital and in clinics at Texas

hospital has given a gift. She discovered,

Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

firsthand, what it was like to be here. I can’t

After she and Dr. Neaves relocated to Missouri in 2000, she served on the board of directors of the Midwest Bioethics

Methodist Publishing House. i

imagine a better name to go with the chair of the director,” Chaplain Watts said.

As a final tribute to his wife of nearly 50

Center and the Institutional Review Board

years, Dr. Neaves combed through her

of Children’s Mercy Hospital. From 2006 to

hundreds of sermons that she had

Rev. Priscil l a Wo o d Ne a ves

December 2014

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I N S I D E

C H I L D R E N ’ S :

C a n c e r

HOPE ON WHEELS Continued from page 2

been developed that melt when they encounter a heated region. One of these drugs called Thermodox, which is in clinical trials for adults, delivers the chemotherapy agent doxorubicin to tumors. Doxorubicin

news

is known to be effective against most solid

FROM CHILDREN’S MEDICAL C E N T E R F O U N DAT I O N

tumors, but without the ability to target it precisely to the tumor, it can damage

Children’s Medical Center Foundation serves as the fundraising arm for Children’s Health System of Texas.

the heart.

Dr. Laetsch’s trial will be a first for

CHRISTOPHER J. DUROVICH President and CEO Children’s Health System of Texas K E R N W I L D E N T H A L , M . D., P H . D. President Children’s Medical Center Foundation

EDITOR: Heidi Harris Cannella WRITERS: Heidi Harris Cannella Patrick McGee DESIGNER: Jan Pults

pediatric patients, and he hopes to begin Westyn Bates participates in Hope on Wheels event.

D

actually shake the tumor on a very, very small scale

more effective way to treat sarcoma

so much that it heats it up. It heats the tumor, and

in children. Sarcomas of soft tissue

none of the surrounding tissue,” said Dr. Laetsch.

and bone comprise 15 percent of all

His innovative idea is a hallmark of Children’s and

childhood cancers and can be treated effectively

UT Southwestern’s tireless approach to finding new

with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but

treatments for pediatric cancer.

His focus is on using a revolutionary technology

in the Southwestern Medical District 2777 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 700 Dallas, Texas 75207

“If you turn up the ultrasound, it can

r. Laetsch is working to develop a

relapses often result in poor outcomes, he said.

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Juan Pulido Cynthia Rivera

treatments within the year.

“The ability to target chemotherapeutics to a patient’s tumor while sparing normal tissue would

called magnetic resonance high-intensity focused

be a major clinical advance,” Dr. Laetsch said. “This is

ultrasound (MR-HIFU) to heat and deliver chemo-

promising research for children with cancer. It is

therapy to tumors while sparing normal tissue in the

central to our mission, and it would not be possible

body. Heating dilates blood vessels in the tumors,

without the grant from Hyundai Hope On Wheels.”

which allows more medicine to get into the bloodstream, he said.

Using MR-HIFU, tumors can be heated to about

Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded Children’s pediatricians working in the Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders a total of $640,000 since 2011. i

107 degrees. Temperature-sensitive liposomes have

give.childrens.com

“It is central to our mission, and

it would not be possible without the grant from Hyundai Hope on Wheels.”

– Dr. Ted Laetsch

12 I P R O M I S I N G

news

I December 2014