We love supporting the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Division at VCU. They were well-represented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) this past December. Dr. Corey chaired a session on Congenital and Acquired Neutropenia. Dr. Usua Oyarbide presented a poster abstract relating to her research with zebrafish. Dr. Matt Schefft spoke on the topic of reducing hospital admission rates through individualized pain plans. It was quite an honor for Dr. Schefft to be selected as a speaker at this meeting, which had over 25,000 hematology specialists from all over the world in attendance.  Here in Richmond Dr. Schefft serves as assistant professor with a focus on Quality Improvement for our pediatric oncology patients. Specifically, he is working on reducing the risk of infection in children with cancer, improving recognition and treatment of infection when it does occur, and determining which children are at low risk of infection and can safely go home. In his spare time, Dr. Schefft enjoys cycling, basketball, visiting breweries, and running around with his boys.

RVA Cures is our website dedicated to the progress of pediatric cancer research in Richmond. Our area finally has a research lab dedicated to childhood cancer thanks to donations to the Connor's Heroes Pediatric Cancer Research Fund.