Stop Children's Cancer / Bonnie R. Freeman Professorship for Pediatric Oncology Research

Dr. Horn has organized a consortium in Florida for all the major pediatric bone marrow transplantation centers. This Consortium is collaborating to understand transplant related issues unique to Florida.

Addressing and Solving One Issue

The consortium discovered fewer patients in Florida find matches on the Bone Marrow Transplant Registry than in other parts of the country. UF is responding by using haploidentical transplants. Haploidentical transplantation allows for the ability to find a donor for almost everyone.

Unique Protocol for Transplants 

Dr. Horn enrolls patients in an important trial using a method of preparing patients for transplantation that she developed. This protocol uses chemotherapy rather than radiation to prepare a patient for a transplant. It is the hope that this new protocol will lead to improve long‑term quality of life, reduce side effects and increase survival.

NOTE:

In 2006, Stop Children's Cancer gave a $1,000,001 establishing an Endowment for the Stop Children's Cancer / Bonnie R. Freeman Professorship for Pediatric Oncology Research. This Endowment was matched by the State of Florida Trust Fund with a $750,000 gift. At that time, the goal was to use the interest earned on the $1,750,001 to attract and retain a high-quality research doctor. Since her recruitment in 2016, Dr. Horn has developed and led a national transplant consortium, bringing pediatric transplant centers together to determine better ways to deliver bone marrow transplants to children. This consortium has published numerous research articles. They recently received a $1 million grant from the State of Florida’s Live Like Bellafunding to test a method of removing cells in the bone marrow that cause graft versus host disease while keeping the cells that fight leukemia and lymphoma. The professorship provides an attractive recruitment tool to attract talented researchers like Dr. Horn to UF. 

Now that Dr. Horn has retired, the Stop Children's Cancer/Bonnie R. Freeman Professorship for Pediatric Oncology Research is being presented to Dr. Elias Sayour. Dr. Horns work at UF will continue on with Dr. Jordan Milner.

Share by: