Join us to build the next breakthrough
The Children's
Cancer Centre
at Great Ormond Street Hospital
Join us to build the next breakthrough
The
Children's
Cancer
Centre
at Great Ormond Street Hospital
Where breakthroughs begin
At Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London, breakthroughs happen every day.
From cutting-edge gene therapies and pioneering heart transplants to treating ‘incurable’ leukaemia, GOSH is where the future of children’s healthcare is imagined, developed and delivered.
Here, the world’s leading minds in paediatric medicine come together to test the limits of what’s possible. And to push beyond them.
Now, we’re ready to go even further.
Bigger breakthroughs. Better treatments. Brighter futures for seriously ill children everywhere.
But we can't do it alone. We need your help.
Our next investment is the creation of a world-leading Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH.
A place where state-of-the-art equipment and treatments will help save more lives, and where a focus on holistic care will help save childhoods too.
Together, we can create a centre of excellence where clinical trials, international collaboration and the best standards of care can thrive. It’s where discoveries will be made that will shape paediatric cancer care for generations to come.
Because the breakthroughs that begin at GOSH don’t just change lives – they shape the future of medicine.
Will you help make the next big breakthrough a reality?
The challenge
The challenge
Every day, parents around the world hear the words no one should have to: "Your child has cancer."
Cancer remains the leading cause of death in children aged one to 14 in both the UK and the US.* Globally, around 400,000 children develop cancer every year – and children’s cancer rates are rising, not falling.**
For some of the hardest-to-treat cancers, children still have less than 2% chance of survival five years after their diagnosis.*
No child should face those odds.
While more children are surviving cancer than ever before, we know that a child doesn't have to die from cancer for it to take their life. Cancer can steal their chance to play, to spend time with family, to learn and even to have children of their own one day. Cancer can steal a child's dreams for the future.
It’s a stark reminder that, despite remarkable advances, there’s still a long way to go to reduce the burden of this devastating disease.
At GOSH, teams care for more children with cancer than anywhere else in the UK. Children come from across the country and around the world in search of hope. But countless children with cancer across the globe are still waiting for their breakthrough.
That’s why we need your help to keep moving forward.
Let's unlock new treatments, discover more cures and rewrite what’s possible for seriously ill children everywhere.
* Sources: Cancer Research UK, National Cancer Institute
** Source: World Health Organisation
Aubrey, aged 5, at an appointment at GOSH
Aubrey, aged 5, at an appointment at GOSH
Why GOSH?
Why GOSH?
For the seriously ill children from over 90 countries who are treated at GOSH every year, and the many more who are helped through our partnerships with hospitals around the globe...
This is the place where the world's leading minds in paediatric medicine unite, and together push the boundaries of what's possible.
For the seriously ill children from over 90 countries who are treated at GOSH every year, and the many more who are helped through our partnerships with hospitals around the globe...
This is the place where the world's leading minds in paediatric medicine unite, and together push the boundaries of what's possible.
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Research at GOSH
Pioneering cancer breakthroughs
As one of the top children’s research hospitals in the world, GOSH has been at the forefront of advances in paediatric cancer care for decades.
From opening the UK’s first Leukaemia Research Unit to curing previously ‘incurable’ cancer in 2015, GOSH has the experience, the academic partnerships and the vision to change the face of children’s cancer care now and for future generations.
Our cancer breakthroughs
1961
The UK’s first Leukaemia Research Unit opens at GOSH
1979
Gentler bone-marrow transplant technique developed that helps children who are too sick for standard doses of drugs
2013
One of the first European CAR T-cell studies launches, paving the way in this rapidly emerging field
2015
GOSH immunologist Professor Waseem Qasim uses CAR T-cells to successfully treat a one-year-old patient with ‘incurable’ leukaemia
2016
GOSH launches UK’s first clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy for neuroblastoma
2019
Clinical trial at GOSH suggests new CAR T-cell therapy has fewer side effects and could be more effective at treating acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) than similar treatments
2022
Thirteen-year-old Alyssa enters remission after being the first patient in the world to receive base-edited CAR T-cell therapy to treat relapsed T-cell ALL
2025
Construction officially begins on the Children's Cancer Centre, building on the incredible legacy of cancer care at GOSH
2026 and beyond...
With your support, we'll create the space and future children with cancer need, ensuring the next great breakthrough happens here. Your investment won't just start something new; it will strengthen something extraordinary.
Meet Alyssa
Diagnosed at 12 years old with an aggressive, treatment-resistant form of leukaemia, Alyssa faced devastating odds.
When conventional treatments failed, she chose to join a groundbreaking clinical trial at GOSH – hoping it would help save other children's lives, if not her own. This courageous decision led to Alyssa becoming the first person in the world to receive base-edited CAR T-cell therapy for T-cell leukaemia.
The treatment worked. Today, Alyssa is cancer free.
Alyssa’s story is more than a medical triumph. It’s proof of what’s possible when compassion, innovation, expertise and investment work together.
“Even a few years ago, this would have seemed impossible. It’s a great demonstration of how, with expert teams and infrastructure, we can link cutting-edge technologies in the lab with real results for patients.”
Alyssa, aged 13, during treatment at GOSH
Alyssa, aged 13, during treatment at GOSH
Alyssa, aged 14, one year after treatment
Alyssa, aged 14, one year after treatment
Alyssa was part of a groundbreaking clinical trial at GOSH
Alyssa was part of a groundbreaking clinical trial at GOSH
The Children's Cancer Centre
The Children's Cancer Centre
Great Ormond Street Hospital CEO Matthew Shaw on the aims and impact of the Children's Cancer Centre
An internationally recognised Professor of Pathology, Neil Sebire is now leading GOSH's digital drive, focusing on improving children's healthcare through the use of technology and informatics.
An internationally recognised Professor of Pathology, Neil Sebire is now leading GOSH's digital drive, focusing on improving children's healthcare through the use of technology and informatics.
Right time. Right place. Right now.
Our ambition for the Children’s Cancer Centre is to create a global catalyst for progress.
To achieve this, we need you with us. It will take us all – doctors, researchers, nurses, builders, technicians, philanthropists.
Treatments that once sounded like science fiction are finally within our grasp. Together, we can captialise on today's technological and research advances, reach that bit further and bring them to real-life bedsides.
Your support, alongside GOSH's expertise, infrastructure and partnerships can turn potential into life-changing progress.
"We are one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in the world from a digital perspective. This supports care and monitoring to a scale that has never been seen before. Expanding our digital technology and embedding it into a purpose-built cancer centre will not only help with research but personalised cancer care."
CGI of the new entrance to the hospital and Children's Cancer Centre
CGI of the new entrance to the hospital and Children's Cancer Centre
Every aspect of the new Children's Cancer Centre has been designed with one purpose: to give children with cancer the best care, the best chance and the best childhood possible. From digitally advanced wards and imaging suites to family areas, a new hospital school and peaceful gardens – this will be a place where cutting-edge science meets compassionate care.
When construction began in June 2025, it marked more than the start of a building – it marked the beginning of a new chapter in paediatric medicine. Work is now underway on the foundations of a centre that will stand for generations. Inside these walls, discoveries will be made, treatments transformed and futures rewritten – but only with your help.
Every aspect of the new Children's Cancer Centre has been designed with one purpose: to give children with cancer the best care, the best chance and the best childhood possible. From digitally advanced wards and imaging suites to family areas, a new hospital school and peaceful gardens – this will be a place where cutting-edge science meets compassionate care.
When construction began in June 2025, it marked more than the start of a building – it marked the beginning of a new chapter in paediatric medicine. Work is now underway on the foundations of a centre that will stand for generations. Inside these walls, discoveries will be made, treatments transformed and futures rewritten – but only with your help.
Inside the new
Children's Cancer Centre
The main entrance
The house bay
Digitally advanced clinical spaces running through the house and garden bays are tailored to children with cancer, so they can stay connected and spend time with loved ones in a space that feels like a home from home.
The garden bay
Providing children and staff access to outside spaces, even during the most challenging times.
The roof garden
A calm, plant-filled outdoor space where children who are able can be active, to help their recovery, and where families can find a moment of respite without leaving hospital grounds.
Special feeds unit
Many children at GOSH can't eat or drink by mouth, or without help, and need 'special feeds'. GOSH runs one of the biggest special feeds units in the UK, providing seriously ill children and babies with safe, carefully tailored feeds that give them the nutrients they need to survive and recover. It’s an essential service open every day of the week because lives depend on it.
A new special feeds unit is now essential as needs rise. A gift of £5 million will allow us to rise with this need and meet it, increasing the number of life-sustaining feeds by 10%.
The hospital school
Every child should have the chance to learn, imagine and grow, even while they're in hospital. With your support, we can replace the outdated 1930s facility with a bright, well-equipped, inspiring new school.
A gift of £10 million will help build a place for curiosity and confidence-building, where children can continue their education and nurture friendships. Because learning shouldn't stop when treatment starts.
Theatre suite
Operating theatres, imaging and recovery units at GOSH are all in separate parts of the hospital. By bringing them together under one roof, we can transform children's care – reducing waiting times, aiding recovery and allowing more children to be treated each day.
A gift of £5 million will help create one new state-of-the-art operating theatre, where world-class surgery and teaching can happen side by side.
Critical care unit
Critical care at GOSH is for children with the most serious illnesses. Despite all they face, many children are still able to move around through recovery and treatment, and want to play and explore. But they need a new space that allows them this freedom.
A gift of £10 million will help build a space that supports the whole child, and the families and staff who care for them. Together, we can provide more beds and family accommodation, rooms for play and physiotherapy, outdoor access and rest areas.
Cancer day care centre
A new Cancer Day Care Unit at GOSH will replace an outdated space and has the potential to expand capacity by 40%. To keep delivering world-class care, the new space will safely harness new technology and digital tools to create mood-boosting surroundings.
A gift of £25 million will be transformative, providing modern, supportive care for children and young people for generations to come.
Cytotoxic pharmacy
A cytotoxic pharmacy is where drugs that kill cancer cells are produced. It's crucial to cancer care.
A gift of £5 million will mean we can create a pharmacy with up to 40% more capacity, right next to the new day care unit, and just below the wards, so clinical staff can quickly relay what drugs they need and when, reducing the time families have to wait for the drugs their children desperately need.
The new pharmacy could even supply other hospitals with specialised chemotherapy drugs – having life-saving impact far beyond the bounds of the hospital.
Our partners
Our partners
The Children’s Cancer Centre is the most ambitious fundraising challenge in our history, and global philanthropists have already stepped forward to help make it possible.
Visionary supporters – like John Grayken and Eilene Davidson Grayken, whose generosity is helping bring this centre to life – know that a gift towards the centre is a gift to future generations. A gift towards redefining cancer care in a modern era.
John Grayken and Eilene Davidson Grayken at GOSH in London
John Grayken and Eilene Davidson Grayken at GOSH in London
Every step of the way, you'll share in what we achieve together,
Transformational gifts from our philanthropic partners don't just shape a building – they shape the future for every child who passes through its doors. We honour this extraordinary generosity with naming opportunities for wards and signature spaces, where stories of hope and discovery unfold every day. Within the new centre, there will also be creative and meaningful ways to recognise support – visible to the thousands of children, families and staff who call GOSH a second home. At every stage, we'll show you the incredible difference your generosity is making.
"Cancer remains the most common cause of death for children aged one to 14 in the UK. The Children’s Cancer Centre has the potential to transform children’s cancer care, and we are very proud to be part of this groundbreaking project at its very beginning to help change seriously ill children’s lives both now and in the future. We hope to inspire others to join us on this journey."
Join us
Join us
The next breakthroughs will depend on pioneering clinicians and researchers with bold ideas, and on visionary people willing to back them.
People who understand that healthcare innovation is one of the most powerful investments we can make in the future.
People like you.
While these changes will begin at GOSH, the learnings, findings and discoveries stand to benefit children from around the world and for generations to come.
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change children's cancer care – and help beat childhood cancer.
The Build it. Beat it. appeal is the most ambitious fundraising campaign in our 170-year history. You can be part of this historic moment – and help transform the lives of children facing cancer for generations to come.
This is the right time, the right place, and we need your support right now.
Join us and help make the next big breakthrough a reality.
Contact Martha Rampley on martha.rampley@gosh.org to learn more.
“The Children’s Cancer Centre is not just a building; we’re resetting the agenda for cancer care and lifting the ambition so that more children survive and thrive after cancer.
“We need people to get behind the Children’s Cancer Centre and believe in it. We need hearts and minds. It’s not just about the building – it's a collective ambition for health care and to give children and young people access to the very best.”
Dr Emma Stockton, Chair of the Children's Cancer Centre Clinical working group at GOSH
“The Children’s Cancer Centre is not just a building; we’re resetting the agenda for cancer care and lifting the ambition so that more children survive and thrive after cancer.
“We need people to get behind the Children’s Cancer Centre and believe in it. We need hearts and minds. It’s not just about the building – it's a collective ambition for health care and to give children and young people access to the very best.”
Dr Emma Stockton, Chair of the Children's Cancer Centre Clinical working group at GOSH
