The division of oncology at Children’s National is annually recognized as a top 10 pediatric cancer program by U.S. News & World Report, coordinating disease-specific specialty programs in leukemia and lymphoma, solid tumors and neuro-oncology alongside a survivorship program and a translational cancer predisposition program. The division holds leadership roles within the Pediatric Early Phase Clinical Trials Network, the Children’s Oncology Group and consortia including Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium, CONNECT and Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia & Lymphoma, giving children access to early-phase trials, including for patients who have exhausted standard treatment options. The program’s rare brain tumor initiative hosts an international tumor board with integrated molecular analysis and an ultra-rare tumor registry. In June 2026, Children’s National researchers reported encouraging early results from “ReMIND,” a first-in-human phase 1 trial of an intravenously delivered T-cell therapy for children and young adults with aggressive brain tumors, including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, published in Nature Medicine. Children’s National also led the largest astroblastoma study to date, analyzing tumor samples from 200 patients worldwide and publishing findings in Neuro-Oncology that reclassify “astroblastoma, MN1-altered” as three distinct molecular diseases. The hospital made history when a 12-year-old became the first person in the world to begin commercially approved gene therapy for sickle cell disease, and it remains one of the few pediatric centers offering both FDA-approved sickle cell gene therapies. Children’s National also opened enrollment in “SABRE,” a first-of-its-kind international CAR T-cell trial combining two T-cell platforms for children with hard-to-treat solid tumors, and with two advanced low-intensity focused ultrasound systems, it is the only freestanding pediatric hospital in the world with this level of focused ultrasound capability for pediatric brain tumor research.
