TAMPA, Fla. — Scientists at a pediatric cancer research lab in Tampa are working to create a vaccine to prevent pediatric leukemia.

Internationally recognized for his research and care in pediatric hematology and oncology, Dr. Cameron Tebbi has treated hundreds of children with leukemia and is the lead scientific researcher in trying to create a vaccine to prevent the disease. 

“We are looking at various tests and various ways and means to find what happens, how the cells become leukemic,” said Tebbi, 81, who is volunteering his time in the lab. “What children have to go through to survive the disease is very, very hard on the child and the family.”

Many of those patients have been affected by 1Voice Foundation, the nonprofit organization that funds and operates the lab.

1Voice also provides pediatric cancer patients and their families with a variety of programs that offer emotional and educational support.

Retired pediatric neurologist Dr. Richard Gunderman and Tebbi shared many of the same patients over three decades.

Gunderman now concentrates on raising awareness to help 1Voice fund the lab and its research.

“I think the success with preventing childhood leukemia is the same as preventing polio,” Gunderman said. “To eliminate a disease and save the families is just unbelievable.”  

The scientists said they believe having the only lab in the world concentrating specifically on this research can help get them closer to preventing pediatric cancer and closer to a cure.

“The difficulty that children go through if you have seen one child with the disease,” Tebbi said. “You really don’t want to see a second one.”