Vanessa Williams Pictures: Vanessa Williams attends the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 50th anniversary gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The hospital’s research has helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the institution opened to almost 80 percent today. It is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children, and no family ever pays St. Jude for care.

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