Our purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children.®
St. Jude exists to solve problems that others often cannot or will not solve: pursuing cures and prevention for the most serious diseases children face.
As a cutting-edge research institution, world-class children’s hospital, a degree-granting medical center and a trusted nonprofit, we work tirelessly to ensure our discoveries reach children everywhere, not just those treated on our campus in Memphis, Tennessee.
Our mission
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.
St. Jude founder Danny Thomas, with a patients
The greatest reward is the smiles on the faces of the children whose lives you've helped save.
Danny Thomas, founder
The St. Jude spirit
When Danny Thomas founded St. Jude, he envisioned a unique children’s hospital that would be a research center for the world, treating children regardless of race, religion or financial status. More than six decades later, his vision holds true.
St. Jude pursues the problems that require long-term commitment and institutional courage to solve. Research and care are not separate endeavors here, they are structurally integrated, designed to move discovery from laboratory to the patient and from Memphis to the world.
St. Jude has helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate in the U.S. from 20% in 1962 to more than 80% today. But despite our progress, pediatric cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease among U.S. children ages 1 to 14. As our knowledge advances, we continue to deepen out commitment to accelerate knowledge globally.
Milestones in our strategic plan
St. Jude is in the midst of a six-year, historic $12.9 billion strategic plan. Since its launch, we’ve made gains across the plan’s five focus areas: fundamental science, childhood cancer, childhood catastrophic diseases, global impact, and people and place. Here are just a few highlights.
Opening of the Inspiration4 Advanced Research Center
In 2021, we opened the Inspiration4 Advanced Research Center, which accommodates up to 1,000 employees and has labs devoted to immunology, neurobiology, cell and molecular biology, gene editing, advanced microscopy, immunotherapy and other fields.
Launch of Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines
The Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines was signed between St. Jude and UNICEF to provide safe and effective cancer medicines to approximately 120,000 children worldwide.
Opening of Family Commons
The Family Commons, a 45,000 square-foot space for patients and families to relax, opened in February 2023. The space houses the St. Jude School Program, an art room and science lab, indoor and outdoor play areas, a café, private rooms for families and a sacred space, among other amenities.
GLOBOTRK is established
GLOBOTRK is a St. Jude-sponsored clinical trial to treat children <3 years of age who are diagnosed with brain tumors. There are collaborating sites in Brazil, Peru, Egypt, Jordan and India.
Expansion of the St. Jude Graduate School degree offerings
The St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences began offering a master’s degree in data science, resulting in 140 students across three degree-seeking programs. 32 students earned degrees in 2025.
The St. Jude strategic plan is not a document, it’s a direction. It sets measurable goals for how the institution will advance science, expand global reach and improve survival for children facing catastrophic disease in the years ahead.
The ambition is specific: to improve survival rates for children with cancer globally, in places where the odds remain unacceptably low. Getting there requires progress in the lab, in the clinic, and in the health systems that determine whether a child anywhere in the world can receive the care they need.
Leadership
A mission this consequential requires leadership equal to it. St. Jude executive leaders and governing bodies exist to keep the institution aligned with its purpose: ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most, that scientific ambition is matched by operational discipline and that the trust placed in St. Jude by patients, families, and donors is never taken lightly.
Stewardship here is not a governance function. It is a responsibility that runs through every level of the institution. Our leaders steward resources and guide strategy, operations and long-term impact across research, clinical care and global collaboration, keeping children and families at the center of everything we do.
More to discover
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Mission, Vision & Values
St. Jude was founded on a promise: that no child should be denied the chance to live because of what a family could or could not afford.
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Leadership at St. Jude
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ALSAC, its fundraising and awareness organization, are guided by teams of esteemed leaders.
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What does St. Jude do?
St. Jude gives kids with cancer the chance they deserve. We're dedicated to providing the best care for patients and leading the research that leads to cures.
