The Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation honored Dr. Susan Blaney with the Pioneer Award for Pediatric Neuro-Oncology, celebrating her 25 years of dedication to the search for new and better treatments for children with brain and spinal cord tumors.
Blaney is the deputy director of Texas Children’s Cancer Center, a professor and executive vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine, and she also serves as vice president of Clinical and Translational Research at Baylor.
Blaney’s extensive experience in clinical translational research focuses on developing new treatment strategies for children with brain tumors and other refractory cancers. Blaney has been instrumental in developing more new agent clinical trials than anyone in the field of pediatric oncology.
Blaney serves as vice chair for the Children’s Oncology Group and was one of the initial members of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC). Additionally, she serves as a mentor to numerous pediatric neuro-oncology fellows and faculty who are current or developing leaders in the field. Among other appointments and positions, she is a member of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Clinical Trial Advisory Committee and serves on the Executive Committee for the NCI-funded Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium. She has served as a member of the Investigational Drug Steering Committee for the National Cancer Institute and as a regular consultant for the Food and Drug Administration’s pediatric Oncology Drug Advisory Committee.
Blaney has published more than 190 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has authored numerous book chapters. She is dedicated to the development of new anti-cancer agents and therapeutic strategies for malignant central nervous system tumors of childhood and to decreasing the morbidity of current therapeutic strategies. In addition, she is passionate about the mentorship of young faculty members in clinical and translational research to ensure that there is sustained leadership in the field.