Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Awards New Nurse Researcher Fellowship Grant

The Nurse Researcher Fellowship Grant provides funding for early career nurse researchers.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), a nonprofit dedicated to finding cures for all kids with cancer, has awarded the latest Nurse Researcher Fellowship grant to Jessica Ward, PhD of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The ALSF Nurse Researcher Fellowship grant was created in 2015 to fund early career nurse researchers. The grant will provide $100,000 over the course of the two-year fellowship. 

Ward’s study will describe how pediatric cancer patients’ symptoms and quality of life are affected by parents’ health and well-being. The study results could influence the way healthcare teams support and care for children (and their parents) throughout the cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Since inception, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has been dedicated to its mission of finding better treatments and ultimately cures for all kids with cancer. Recognizing early on the role that nurses play in the quality of life and care for childhood cancer patients and their families, the Foundation made a commitment to support the ideas and research of nurses, introducing the first Nurse Researcher Grants in 2007. The Nursing Research Fellowship grant aims to support an early career nurse researcher to initiate and lead a multi-site research project focused on the quality of life and care of pediatric cancer patients. The grantee will be guided in their project by a mentor and will complete a comprehensive training program.

“During my daughter Alex’s seven-year battle with cancer, nurses played an integral role in her treatment,” said Liz Scott, Co-Executive Director of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. “Nurses have a unique perspective into a young patient’s quality of care and perhaps most importantly quality of life. Through this grant and fellowship, we can enable nurses to use this knowledge to make a difference in the lives of children fighting cancer.”

In addition to the Nurse Researcher Fellowship, ALSF awards grants in several categories to researchers on the front lines of the childhood cancer fight. For more information on recently funded projects, visit: ALSFgrants.org.