When I was sixteen, I decided that I wanted to be a pediatric oncologist because, like so many of you, I had encountered the heartbreak of journeying with family members with cancer. In my teenage wisdom, I wanted to dedicate my love of science and of community service to help children diagnosed with cancer, and after many years of training, I achieved that dream of being able to serve some of the 400,000 children and families whose lives are dramatically changed each year by a new cancer diagnosis. 

Every September during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we honor these incredible patients, their families, and the countless professionals who dedicate their lives to treating and finding cures for each child. I am privileged to work alongside the most committed and talented teams every day, both in my clinical practice taking care of patients and in the laboratory developing new treatments for future patients. These teams include physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, social workers, dieticians, child life specialists, scientists, volunteers, and (most importantly) our patients and their families. It takes a village to travel with a child on his or her cancer journey, and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month reminds me of the fantastic community of people who have devoted their lives to caring for and honoring these children.

Over the past several decades, the oncology community has advanced care for children by leaps and bounds, but we still have a long way to go to improve survival rates and to decrease the long-term effects of lifesaving treatments. Unfortunately, pediatric oncology research remains underfunded, with just a small portion of the entire National Cancer Institute’s budget dedicated to finding cures for childhood cancers. However, an investment in pediatric oncology research is an investment in our future and is vital to ensuring that more children can grow up to fulfill their lifelong dreams. Fundraisers like Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s Million Mile event enable us all to walk alongside children with cancer, as well as the teams striving to help their patients to walk a million more miles in the future!

Above all, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is a chance to highlight and to cheer for all the pediatric oncology heroes (patients, researchers, and care teams alike) that I have the privilege of knowing, caring for, and collaborating with every day. Let’s use this month, and every month,  to raise so much awareness and support for these patients and pediatric oncology research that it lasts all year long!

About Dr. Turn
Christina S. Turn, MD, MSTR is currently an Instructor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a physician-scientist in the Division of Oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Her laboratory work focuses on developing novel therapeutics through manipulating the metabolism of immune cells inside neuroblastoma tumors. Clinically, she serves as an attending physician for the solid tumor and hematologic malignancy programs at CHOP. 

Dr. Turn has received several awards for her research, including the Young Investigator award from the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Cancer Research, the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation Scholar award, and the Arden Quinn Bucher Scholar award from St. Baldrick’s Foundation. She has also been a Scholar at CHOP as part of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Centers of Excellence in Developmental Therapeutics program. Since 2023, she and her lab have participated in The Million Mile program.