St. Jude Scientist Named Pew Scholar

Charles Mullighan, M.D., Ph.D., becomes fourth St. Jude scientist honored

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Charles Mullighan, M.D.,
Ph.D., an assistant member in the Pathology Department at St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital, has been named a 2009 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical
Sciences.

Selected by The Pew Charitable Trusts as one of 17 of the country's most
promising early-career scientists, Mullighan will receive a $240,000 award
over four years to support his research.

"Dr. Mullighan's appointment as a Pew Scholar is further validation of his
remarkable accomplishments at this early stage in his career and the potential
he has as a physician-scientist to make major discoveries in the future," said
Dr. William E. Evans, St. Jude director and CEO. "We are fortunate to have Dr.
Mullighan as one of a strong group of junior faculty who ensure the future
success of St. Jude."

Mullighan's research focuses on the use of high-resolution, genome-wide
approaches to identify genomic aberrations contributing to leukemogenesis and
influencing leukemia outcome; the use of in vitro and in vivo experimental
approaches to model genomic abnormalities in leukemogenesis; and the genetics
of disease susceptibility and disease phenotype, most notably the genetic
determinants of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome.

"Being named a Pew Scholar is a tremendous honor and will provide very
important support at this stage of my career," Mullighan said. "The award also
reflects the exceptional research environment at St. Jude that has enabled the
work recognized by the scholarship to be performed."

Pew Scholars are junior faculty members at medical schools and research
institutions who show outstanding promise in research that is related to the
advancement of human health.

A native of Adelaide, Australia, Mullighan attended medical school at the
University of Adelaide, earning a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
with honors in 1993. He received a Master of Science from the University of
London in 1997; and earned a Doctor of Medicine from the University of
Adelaide in 1998.

Mullighan is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the
Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. In 2004, he joined the staff at
St. Jude as a postdoctoral fellow in Pathology and was named an assistant
member in the department in May 2008. Mullighan is also the recipient of the
prestigious American Society of Hematology Merit and Scholar awards.

Brenda Schulman, Ph.D., a member of Structural Biology and Genetics/Tumor Cell
Biology at St. Jude, became the hospital's first Pew Scholar in 2002. Michael
Dyer, Ph.D., a member of Developmental Neurobiology at St. Jude, received the
distinction in 2004, and Joseph Opferman, Ph.D., an assistant member of
Biochemistry, was honored in 2006.

In its 25th year, the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences has
invested more than $125 million to support more than 460 scholars. Previous
scholars have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, MacArthur Award Fellowships and
the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its
pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other
catastrophic diseases. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in
Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and
medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not
covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay.
St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fundraising organization. For
more information, please visit www.stjude.org.

SOURCE St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Public Relations department,
+1-901-595-3306, media@stjude.org