Keith J. August, MD, MS

Oncology Section Chief; Director, Leukemia & Lymphoma Program; Associate Director, Experimental Therapeutics in Pediatric Cancer; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine

Full Biography

Keith August, MD, MS, Oncology Section Chief, Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT), received a 2023 Hyundai Hope on Wheels Impact Grant. The one-year, $100,000 award will help support the salaries of two regulatory cancer research coordinators for Oncology, Experimental Therapeutics and BMT at Children's Mercy. The coordinators focus on meeting the standards of regulatory compliance for research trials and studies.

In 2018, the Oncology/BMT Sections within the Children’s Mercy Cancer program reorganized to centralize regulatory work which streamlined regulatory processes as well as built expertise in the increasingly complex regulator environment. This complexity has made the role of the regulatory coordinators key in meeting standards of regulatory compliance while freeing up patient-facing coordinators to enroll and focus on patient needs.

Hyundai Hope on Wheels awards grants to researchers at member institutions of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), a National Cancer Institute supported clinical trials group. The Impact Grant provides funding for programmatic initiatives in pediatric oncology research and clinical care.

Dr. August said, “Here at Children’s Mercy Kansas City we are deeply committed to providing access to the newest and most exciting treatments for children with cancer.  This grant goes a long way to helping to provide the infrastructure necessary to have more than 50 clinical trials open, including many phase 1 and 2 trials that require a lot of additional work that often does not get supported.  We are very grateful to the Hyundai Hope on Wheels program for recognizing this need and stepping up to provide funding for this essential work.”