The society is chaired by Princess Adilah, daughter of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
"The grant comes under the society’s scientific research grant program which has been successfully running for the fourth consecutive year," said Sanad board member Dr. Haifa bint Abdul Kareem Al-Watban, who is also chief of the home health care program at the King Abdul Aziz Medical Center in Riyadh.
"The amount can be increased to encourage more good research proposals if there is a case for it. We receive proposals through the society e-mail: [email protected]," she said.
For this purpose the July 14 deadline was extended to Aug. 20 to allow more researchers to submit proposals.
"Saudi as well as expatriate researchers can apply, but expatriates should be resident in the Kingdom, " she said. "The only criteria that needs to met is competency in scientific research and that the research work must be done in the Kingdom.”
The focus for this year are on proposals for clinical research that is directly related to children’s cancer.
Al-Watban announced that the SANAD scientific research grant committee has already approved five proposals for 2011/12. These proposals are as follows:
(1) Treatment of Related and Infectious Toxicity in Pediatric Cancer Patients: A Study to Assess the Impact on Therapeutic Efforts and Treatment Outcome. Principal Investigators: Dr. Asim Belgaumi & Khawar Siddiqui.
(2) Experimental Study of the Surrounding Tumors of the Central Nervous System in Children. Principal Investigator: Dr. Hasan Mansour.
(3) Prevalence of Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency Syndrome (CMMRD) in Pediatric Saudi Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Principal Investigator: Khawla Al-Kuraya.
(4) Chemotherapy Induced Symptom Trajectories and Health Related Quality of Life Among Saudi Children with Cancer. Principal Investigator: Eyad Alhelih.
(5) Epidemiological, Laboratory and Molecular Genetic Characterization and Outcome of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A descriptive Multi-Institution National Collaborative Study. Principal Investigators: Dr. Reem Al Sudairy & Dr. Asim Belgaumi.
Sanad is an active charitable society providing support to child cancer patients and their families in the Kingdom by raising awareness and financial support.
The society, established nine year ago in Riyadh has around 500 active members and hundreds of volunteers. This week, the society has received strong support from Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation to sponsor its women events.
According to the society there are around 1,000 cases of child cancer cases in the Kingdom. Over 80 percent of them can be cured with early diagnosis and treatment and the use of advanced methods.
