My name is Alexandra Backlund and I am a tissue navigator at Weill Cornell/ New York Presbyterian. I received my medical degree from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and completed my master’s thesis on regenerative therapy for treatment-induced cognitive damage in children with brain cancer.
I have been involved in pediatric brain cancer research for the past five years, and I find the drive and motivation through my clinical engagements. I have had the honor to work with pediatric neuro-oncological patients and their families first as a bedside assistant nurse during the early years of my education, as a junior doctor, and continually so through my current research engagements.
Gift From a Child is an extraordinary program that offers families and patients a unique form of tangible legacy and investment in the future. It is greatly rewarding to be able to serve these families and facilitate this process and gift to science.