September 29, 2008 - Volume 3, Number 28

In this issue:

• Artists Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato perform to sell-out crowd at City of Hope benefit
• City of Hope patient represents California in White House T-ball game
• Markel family gift supports critical research projects in peritoneal and ovarian cancers
• Leaders tackle a growing need for space on campus
• 18th annual Beckman Symposium focuses on the body’s defense against disease
• Walk organizers lay out pink carpet for employees
• City of Hope urges employees to vote

Highway hero
Teen Vincent Vanillo, right, strolls through City of Hope during a recent television interview with KABC-TV reporter Danny Romero.

Even before the gas crisis, Vanillo, whose brother Jacob was treated successfully at City of Hope, recognized how pediatric patients’ parents struggled to pay for transportation to see their hospitalized children. As part of a high school project called “Gas Up,” Vanillo collected about $3,000 to buy gas cards, which he then distributed to parents of children at City of Hope and other local hospitals, as well as to a classmate with leukemia.

Vanillo recently was featured in a July and August “Cool Kids” segment on KABC-TV, which also featured his brother’s physician, Judith Sato, M.D.