St. Jude names the institution’s principal research tower for Donald Pinkel, MD. As the hospital’s first medical director, Pinkel was committed to finding cures for childhood cancer, leading to groundbreaking treatments that saved countless children’s lives.

St. Jude immunologists discover how immune cells called T cells become “exhausted” — unable to do their jobs of attacking invaders such as cancer cells or viruses. The finding is important because patients treated with immunotherapies against cancers are often non-responsive or experience a relapse of their disease, and it has been suggested that these challenges may be due to T cell exhaustion. The finding offers a new pathway to more powerful and durable immunotherapies.

Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the percentage of pediatric cancer patients treated with radiation fell from 77 to 33 percent. The average radiation dose also dropped. A new study of childhood cancer survivors shows that the reduction in radiation therapy has led to a decline of second cancers, as well.

St. Jude investigators show that the tumor suppressor liver kinase B1 (LKB1), a protein that controls cell growth and metabolism, also coordinates metabolic and immunological homeostasis of T cells. This prevents immunological exhaustion, a process in which T cells lose their ability to function and reproduce.

St. Jude is ranked as the No. 1 pediatric cancer hospital on U.S. News & World Report’s 28th Annual “Best Hospitals” list.

The most complete assessment yet of chronic disease in adult survivors of childhood cancer finds they have a nearly two-fold greater cumulative burden of chronic health problems than the general public. The research suggests this growing population may benefit from more specialized health care delivery.

A consortium including St. Jude and the Children's Oncology Group performs an unprecedented genomic sequencing analysis of hundreds of patients with T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The results provide a detailed genomic landscape that will inform treatment strategies and aid efforts to develop drugs to target newly discovered mutations.

For the seventh consecutive year, Fortune magazine names St. Jude to the “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. The annual list recognizes companies with exceptional workplace cultures that foster employee engagement and trust.

St. Jude investigators report that a patient's tumor cells can be transplanted into a mouse to provide a model for analysis and drug testing. A panel of pediatric solid tumor models has been extensively characterized and made freely available.

St. Jude scientists lead the largest international study to search the human genome for genetic changes that cause acute megakaryoblastic leukemia, a disease with a dismal prognosis. Researchers discover three genetic changes that will improve tailored therapy for patients with this disease.

St. Jude scientists and their colleagues develop an algorithm that functions like a Rosetta Stone to help decipher how the immune system recognizes and binds antigens. The research should aid development of more personalized cancer immunotherapy and advance diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.

Les Robison, PhD, St. Jude Epidemiology and Cancer Control chair, is awarded the American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor. This national award is awarded to individuals who have made the most valuable contributions and impact in saving lives from cancer through basic research, clinical research and cancer control.

St. Jude investigators show that using the drug hydroxyurea to boost average fetal hemoglobin levels above 20 percent in children and teens with sickle cell anemia is associated with at least a two-fold reduction in hospitalization for any reason. The findings should help settle the debate about how to optimize hydroxyurea for treatment of sickle cell disease in young people.

St. Jude is named to Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2018, receiving a No. 9 ranking out of the top 100 large companies.

St. Jude scientists identify a small RNA (microRNA) that may be essential to restoring normal function in a brain circuit associated with the “voices” and other hallucinations of schizophrenia. The microRNA provides a possible focus for antipsychotic drug development.

Early evidence suggests that gene therapy developed at St. Jude will lead to broad protection for infants with the devastating immune disorder X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency.