About Us

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital advances cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Founder and entertainer Danny Thomas opened the doors to St. Jude in 1962 with the dream that “no child should die in the dawn of life.'' He was inspired to create a hospital where no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay. Unlike other hospitals, the majority of our funding comes from individual contributions. And thanks to generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food - so they can focus on helping their child live. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world. Treatments developed at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since the hospital opened more than 60 years ago. Our goal is to achieve 100% survival rates. Each year, we care for more than 8,500 children from around the world on our campus in Memphis, TN. And we reach thousands more children through our Global St. Jude program.