Hyundai Hope on Wheels Funds Childhood Cancer Research and Patient Care at Yale

Every year around this time, officials from Yale New Haven Hospital, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Hyundai Motors gather for a ceremony to celebrate the Hyundai Hope on Wheels campaign, which provides millions of dollars to support childhood cancer research.

Speeches are made, enlarged checks are presented, and photos are taken. It’s a wonderful program that generously supports childhood cancer research at Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, as well as programs that support survivors of childhood cancer.

But if you’ve ever attended one of these events, you know that once the formal ceremony is over, the fun begins. That’s when young patients paint their hands, then slap that red, green, or blue palm on a doctor’s white coat.

At the 2025 Hyundai Hope on Wheels ceremony, held September 9 under sunny skies in the Smilow Healing Garden on the hospital’s seventh floor, that privilege fell to patients Jerome, 13, from New Haven, and Dugan, 11, of Shelton. After a volunteer painted his hand green, a smiling Dugan slapped his palm on a poster, then on a white lab coat worn by Rozalyn Levine Rodwin, MD, MHS, assistant professor of pediatrics (hematology/oncology) and director of the Pediatric HEROS Survivorship Program at Yale. A little while later, Jerome, with a blue hand, did the same thing to Rodwin and to a white coat worn by Juan Vasquez, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics (hematology/oncology). The boys posed for pictures afterward.

“Just like every journey of children and families facing cancer, each handprint is unique and each one has its own story to share,” says Mark Delaney, Regional Merchandising Manager at Hyundai.

Hyundai officials presented Yale with $500,000 to support childhood cancer research by Dr. Vasquez and for the HEROS program. The HEROS program improves the transition for young patients with cancer from active oncology care to survivorship. The donation will allow the program to increase its outreach to pediatric patients who’ve been treated but don’t always receive the continuing follow-up care that's advised. Dr. Vasquez is researching novel treatments for hard-to-treat cancers by exploring DNA repair and metabolic pathways to enhance immunotherapy. His research could significantly improve patient outcomes by proving new insights and therapeutic options for cancers that are currently resistant to treatments.

Rodwin notes that advances in cancer treatment mean that more than 80 percent of children with cancer can be cured. “But this means that there are now approximately half a million childhood cancer survivors in the United States,” she says. “By the age of 15, 96 percent of childhood cancer survivors will have experienced at least one severe or disabling chronic health condition related to their cancer therapy.” That, she says, is why a program like HEROS is so important.

Vasquez says his research highlights the importance of focusing on pediatric cancers. “The support of Hyundai Hope on Wheels allows us to focus specifically on pediatric cancers that have a different biology, a kind of project that wouldn’t be possible without this support.”

“I’ve witnessed firsthand as chair of the Department of Pediatrics the remarkable impact of Hyundai Hope on Wheels,” says Clifford W. Bogue, MD, Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor and chairman of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. “This program has driven progress in pediatric cancer research and treatment, providing hope and a better future for our young patients. We’re grateful for Hyundai’s confidence in our researchers at Yale.”

Jeffrey Brandfon of Brandfon Hyundai in Branford said the program “is about hope and the belief that a better future is possible.”