Times Square Goes Gold to Raise Awareness for Pediatric Cancer

Recently, dozens of survivors, their parents, and members of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Department of Pediatrics joined the Times Square Advertising Coalition to turn the bright lights of Times Square gold to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. Pediatric cancer awareness is represented by the color gold. 

Stephen Roberts, MD, a pediatric hematologic oncologist at MSK, addressed the crowd to underscore the importance of ongoing efforts in pediatric cancer, especially since only 4 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s budget is dedicated to researching childhood cancers.

“It’s really a privilege of mine to be here. We need to get this message out to the world,” said Dr. Roberts. “These kids are out there, and we need to do everything that we can to continue to try to improve treatments and raise awareness for them.”

MSK honors children and families affected by pediatric cancer and aims to provide compassionate and personalized care to all its patients. In many cases, this includes treatments not yet available elsewhere. This is crucial for pediatric patients, who typically wait up to seven years to gain access to new therapies. 

The Times Square “Goes Gold” event celebrated the successful treatment of so many patients. At the same time, attendees were committed to raising awareness and funds to support continued research and the development of new treatments.