Tulane University Medical Students to "Go Bald" in Attempt to Raise $50,000 to Fight Childhood Cancer

Some of the youngest patients of the Tulane University Cancer Center will be on hand Wednesday to cheer on more than 90 Tulane medical students and almost a dozen faculty and staff members who"ll have their heads shaved to raise money to fight childhood cancer.

The Tulane University School of Medicine class of 2010 signed up more than 100 people to "go bald" on Wednesday, March 12, as part of an afternoon of fund-raising and activities to support the St. Baldrick"s Foundation, a national group devoted to helping kids with cancer, as well as the Tulane Hospital for Children.

The head-shaving festivities, which will also feature a silent auction, bake sale and head painting with kids from the pediatric oncology unit, will take place from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. in the first floor atrium of Tulane Medical Center, 1415 Tulane Ave.

Stylists from seven local salons will be working in shifts to shear students and staff as patients, doctors and family members cheer them on. So far, Tulane students have raised more than $37,700, far surpassing their initial goal for the fund-raiser. "We started with $5,000 as our goal, and it"s just blown up from there," says student organizer Alan Hathcock, who now hopes to raise as much as $50,000 for the cause.

Since 2005, the St. Baldrick"s Foundation has raised over $34 million to support research at more than 230 institutions, including Tulane. For more information or to donate, please visit: http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/event_info.html?EventKey=2008-718 .