Learn more about Pediatric Cancer Care

The Pediatric Oncology Solid Tumor Program at Penn State Health Golisano Children’s Hospital delivers expert care for children with complex cancers like neuroblastoma, sarcomas and rare cancers. Powered by groundbreaking research from Penn State College of Medicine, we offer advanced, personalized treatments, especially for high-risk and relapsed cases. Our team seamlessly translates laboratory discoveries into bedside applications, ensuring leading-edge clinical trials and first-in-child therapies reach our patients swiftly and effectively. Families who travel from locations near and far trust us for our expertise, innovation and compassionate support.

Clinical trials and research

At any given time, our team will be running studies on solid tumors, all in order to advance care at the bedside.

Available studies can be found here

FDA-approved drug offers improved patient outcomes

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug to effectively decrease the resurgence of neuroblastoma in 2023, patients and families from around the world have turned to Dr. Giselle Saulnier Sholler and Penn State Health Golisano Children’s Hospital to help them beat this aggressive cancer, diagnosed most often in children younger than 6. This breakthrough drug called eflornithine (DFMO) emerged from Sholler’s research and clinical trials she led through the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium.

Building on that success, Sholler and her team are expanding their research into other neuroblastoma treatments, increasing trials for conditions like sarcomas and diffuse midline glioma, a tumor found in the brainstem, and exploring immunotherapy and cellular therapy. Learn about this and the many other areas of critical pediatric research underway at Penn State College of Medicine.

Meet our partners in the lab

Giselle Saulnier Sholler, MD, MSc

Research profile

The Sholler Lab is the preclinical research team of the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium. It focuses on finding the genomic and biological causes of childhood solid and brain tumors and targeting them with precise drugs and immunotherapies. By connecting discoveries in the lab to innovative clinical trials, the goal is to create safer, more effective treatments that improve outcomes for children with cancer.

Hong-Gang “H.G.” Wang, PhD

Research profile

Research in the Hong-Gang Wang Lab studies the core processes that control apoptosis – how the body removes old or damaged cells – and autophagy – how cells recycle their damaged parts. By understanding how these processes work, the lab turns basic scientific discoveries into new ways to prevent and treat cancer.

From Research to Reality: Finding a Cure for Pediatric Neuroblastoma

In the News

• FDA approves pediatric neuroblastoma drug based on Penn State College of Medicine professor’s work
• Q&A: Finding novel therapies for childhood cancer
• Penn State College of Medicine, Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium and Four Diamonds launch clinical trial that aims to combat solid tumors
• ‘I wanted to change the outcomes’: Sholler’s career leads to neuroblastoma breakthrough
• Q&A: Turning THON fundraising into lifesaving medical treatments
• Penn State College of Medicine, Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium and Four Diamonds launch clinical trial that aims to combat solid tumors
• College of Medicine researcher receives grant to further pediatric oncology research