Preferred St. Jude Style Guide



The St. Jude Style Guide for Media is intended to help media achieve stylistic consistency in written communications about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

ALSAC/ST. JUDE 

When the names of the two organizations are used together, ALSAC/St. Jude should be written with a slash (/) between the two.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS/BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Use ALSAC/St. Jude Boards of Directors and Governors, ALSAC Board of Directors or St. Jude Board of Governors. Capitalize Board on second reference.

CLINICAL TRIALS

The word Phase, when used in conjunction with a clinical trial, should be capitalized, and the trial number should be a Roman numeral: A Phase I trial is ongoing.

DIAGNOSED

Patients are not diagnosed, but their conditions or diseases are diagnosed. Incorrect: She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Correct: She was found to have osteosarcoma. A diagnosis of osteosarcoma was made in 2001. The disease was diagnosed in 1999. Likewise, a patient does not “go into remission” and cannot be “in remission.” Only diseases can be in a state of remission.

DISEASES

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (not lymphocytic)
Acute myeloid leukemia (not myelocytic)
Ewing sarcoma (not Ewing’s)
Hodgkin lymphoma (not Hodgkin’s)
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (not Hodgkin’s)
Wilms tumor (not Wilms’)

Do not hyphenate disease names that are used as modifiers: Sickle cell trait; basal cell carcinoma.

MISSION STATEMENT

This is the correct version to use: The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our founder, Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family’s ability to pay.

REGISTERED TRADEMARK SYMBOL

To show that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities® and ALSAC® are registered trademarks, either use the ® symbol on the first reference or include the following sentence in the publication: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities and ALSAC are registered trademarks.

SJCRH

Never use this abbreviation for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

ST. JUDE, ST. JUDE’S

Do not use an apostrophe in the name of the hospital, unless it is possessive. Incorrect: I work at St. Jude’s. Correct: I work at St. Jude. When the possessive is used, try to re-write the sentence to avoid using the apostrophe and “s”: Okay: He works in St. Jude’s Public Relations office. Better: He works in the St. Jude Public Relations office or …in the Public Relations office at St. Jude.

ST. JUDE ON SECOND REFERENCE

After the first reference to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, use St. Jude. Do not use St. Jude Hospital or SJCRH on second reference. Do not capitalize the word hospital when used alone on second reference. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is in Memphis, Tennessee. The hospital is located on North Lauderdale.

STAGES

For stages of cancer, lowercase the word “stage” and use a Roman numeral: He had stage IV neuroblastoma.

SURGERY, OPERATION

An operation is an event in which a surgical procedure occurs. Surgery refers to a field of study. He had an operation to remove the tumor. The surgical procedure cured his problem.

SURVIVORS DAY

The event known as Survivors Day has no apostrophe in the word “Survivors.”

TRANSPLANT, TRANSPLANTATION

A transplant is a particular event; transplantation refers to the method itself. Stem cell transplantation is the preferred method of treatment. She received a stem cell  transplant in June.


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