The short answer
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated solely to children, with a mission to advance cures for pediatric cancer through research and treatment. This page covers what NCI says about it and what to ask your child's care team about referral, cost and travel.
NCI describes St. Jude as the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated solely to children.
Its stated mission is to advance cures for pediatric cancer through research and treatment.
Referral steps, eligibility and any costs to families are set by St. Jude itself, so ask your child's doctor and St. Jude directly.
A specialty center does not replace your local care team. Ask how care would be shared.
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What NCI says about St. Jude
The National Cancer Institute lists St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. Its stated mission is to advance cures for pediatric cancer through research and treatment. NCI notes that it is the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated solely to children.
Referral, cost and travel: ask directly
The NCI page does not explain how referral works, who is accepted, or what families pay. We could not confirm those details in an approved source, so we do not state them here. Policies can change, and they differ by child and diagnosis.
Ask your child's doctor whether a referral to a specialty center makes sense. Then ask St. Jude directly:
- Does my child's diagnosis fit what you treat?
- What would we be billed for, and what is not covered?
- What travel and housing help is offered?
- Can you put the answers in writing?
For other help with costs, see our pages on financial assistance for cancer and free lodging during cancer treatment.
Keep your local team involved
A specialty center does not replace your local care team. Ask both teams how care will be shared and who coordinates it. Ask who to call if your child has a fever or another urgent problem. Use the fever threshold your child's team gave you. In an emergency, call 911.
Sources
Common questions
What is St. Jude?
NCI describes St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as a Comprehensive Cancer Center whose mission is to advance cures for pediatric cancer through research and treatment. It is the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated solely to children.
How does a family get their child seen there?
The NCI page does not describe the referral process. Ask your child's doctor whether a referral makes sense, and contact St. Jude directly about how evaluation works.
Does St. Jude charge families?
The NCI page does not describe costs to families. Ask St. Jude directly what is and is not covered for your child, including travel and housing, and get the answer in writing.
Should we stop seeing our local doctor if our child is treated at a specialty center?
No. Ask both teams how care will be shared, who to call for fever or other urgent problems, and who coordinates the plan. For an emergency, call 911.
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Sources last checked: 2026-09-07 what this meansLast updated: 2026-09-07Next planned review: 2027-09-07
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Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Editorial review complete — This page completed Cancer Explained's editorial checks (sources, safety, plain language, duplication). It has not been reviewed by a physician or other healthcare professional.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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