St. Jude Children's Hospital to Release Genome Data to Researchers

With a career spanning more than 25 years, Patrick Stoup serves as the CEO of SAI in Gaithersburg, Maryland. On top of the business activities that Patrick Stoup oversees, he also drives the company's charitable work, including its support and donations to the St. Jude Children's Hospital.

St. Jude Children's Hospital conducts research on pediatric cancer and other rare diseases. The nonprofit publishes its works in St. Jude Cloud, the world's largest public online resource of pediatric genomics data. The hospital has announced that it will be releasing its clinical genome sequencing data in an initiative that aims to be the first of its kind.

With the consent of its patients, St. Jude Children's Hospital looks to release data on genome, exome, and transcriptome every month to researchers. The initiative is in contrast to how such information was released in the past, which was typically retrospective. 

Data from 685 patients are currently available through the platform, at no cost to medical professionals, with a further 273 data sets scheduled to be released in July. Additionally, St. Jude Children's Hospital plans to upload information from 500 patients every year. According to Jinghui Zhang, Ph.D., the chair of the Department of Computational Biology, the data will allow medical researchers to develop more precise treatments for childhood cancer and other diseases.

Team #RunINN4Kids Supports the Children's Inn at NIH

A business executive with decades of experience in areas ranging from government contracting to program management, Patrick Stoup serves as CEO of the professional services company SAI in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Alongside his career, Patrick Stoup contributes to organizations dedicated to supporting children, such as the Children's Inn at NIH.

A residence for children receiving treatment from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, and their families, the Children's Inn at NIH seeks to meet patients' emotional and spiritual needs. In order to provide these children and their families with a home away from home during treatment, the Children's Inn relies on generous sponsors and fundraising events.

Through a collaboration with the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) and 10K, the Children's Inn raises funds with Team #RunINN4Kids. The team acquires resources to fund lodging, meals, and a diverse range of therapeutic and educational programs at the Children's Inn.

Members of Team #RunINN4Kids receive training for the race and a special race jersey. Through customizable fundraising web pages, each person can reach out to family and friends to help meet their fundraising goal of $600.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Launches St. Jude Global

An accomplished executive with over 25 years of leadership experience, Patrick Stoup serves as CEO of SAI in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Alongside his activities at the professional services company, Patrick Stoup gives back to the community by supporting various nonprofit organizations, including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. 

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has announced the launch of St. Jude Global, an initiative that will expand the hospital's reach worldwide. With its $100 million initial investment, St. Jude has started working toward the goal of influencing the care of approximately 30 percent of children with cancer across the globe. The hospital hopes to reach this ambitious goal within the next decade. 

Through the initiative, St. Jude will focus specifically on improving pediatric cancer diagnosis and treatment in low and middle-income countries. St. Jude Global will help improve cancer care by training health care workers, strengthening health care systems and initiatives, and advancing research on a global scale. 

Ultimately, St. Jude plans to use the initiative to create a worldwide network of programs and institutions working to facilitate collaboration, research, and innovation. To do so, the hospital will build on relationships it has already established in a number of countries and regions around the world.

Robert De Niro to Star in New Martin Scorsese Netflix Film

The recipient of a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology from Slippery Rock State College, Patrick Stoup serves as the Chief Executive Officer of SAI, a professional and technical services consulting corporation. When he isn't working, Patrick Stoup enjoys watching films. He counts Robert De Niro as his favorite actor.

Beginning in August, De Niro and his longtime collaborator Martin Scorsese will work on their 10th film together. De Niro is slated to play Frank Sheeran in Scorsese's latest film, The Irishman, which is scheduled for a 2019 release on Netflix. The actor-director pair first worked together on Mean Streets in 1973 and have since produced memorable films such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. 

The Irishman will detail the life of Sheeran, a former labor union official who confessed to killing Jimmy Hoffa prior to his death in 2003. Because the majority of the film's plot occurs in the 1970s and includes flashbacks to when Sheeran was a younger man, De Niro, who is 73 years old, will be subjected to digital de-aging technology using reference materials from throughout his 50-year career in film. In addition to De Niro, the film features Al Pacino, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel, and Joe Pesci.

The Development of the Popular Crossword Puzzle

Patrick Stoup graduated with a BA in psychology/sociology from Slippery Rock State College in 1972. He has been the CEO of SAI in Gaithersburg, Maryland, since 2014. In his spare time, Patrick Stoup enjoys solving the Washington Post’s Sunday crossword puzzles.

Considered by many the most popular word game in the world, crossword puzzles are a relatively recent invention. They first appeared in 19th-century English children's books in the form of square groupings of words that could be read both horizontally or vertically. They didn't become popular with adults until introduced to the United States.

The first-known crossword puzzle appeared in a Sunday edition of the New York World in December of 1913. Created by an English journalist, Arthur Wynne, the puzzle was shaped like a diamond, with no black spaces in the interior. By the early 1920s, other newspapers were producing their own puzzles. Within a decade, almost all newspapers offered them.

The February edition of Pearson's Magazine in 1922 was the first British publication to have a crossword puzzle. British crosswords quickly developed a reputation for being more difficult than American versions, with some even calling them cryptic.

Duck and Waterfowl Hunting Tips

A graduate of Slippery Rock State College, where he majored in psychology and sociology, Patrick Stoup currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of SAI in Gaithersburg, Maryland. When he is not at the office, Pat enjoys hunting game animals and waterfowl.

Although it varies by region and state, the waterfowl hunting season is generally two months long and falls in the late fall and winter months. During that time, hunters of every experience level, from weekend enthusiasts to serious, life-long hunters, do their best to bag their limit of top-quality birds. Whatever their experience level, however, there are several things to remember for effective waterfowl hunting, in addition to well-maintained and smartly deployed decoys.

- Use the duck call sparingly. When the paddling of ducks is on the water, pay close attention to the noises they make and resist constantly using a five-cadence greeting call in an effort to draw them closer. Instead, wait until they are about to leave the area and use a five-cadence call at that point. Doing so has a better chance of drawing them closer, even if the call only draws one at first.

- Make the water more enticing. There are several ways to lure a flock of ducks to the water. For instance, muddying the water on slow days may give passing ducks the impression that other ducks have been feeding in that spot. Alternately, irregularly-cut sheets of plastic splashed with water and laid across a depression in a field can mimic the appearance of an unfrozen shallow pond.

Ways to Contribute to DC Central Kitchen

Based in Maryland, Patrick Stoup serves as CEO at SAI, where he is responsible for developing objectives and strategies to meet the company’s long- and short-term goals. Through the company, Patrick Stoup contributes to many charitable organizations, including DC Central Kitchen and Lifeline of Baltimore.

A nonprofit located in Washington, D.C., DC Central Kitchen is dedicated to reducing hunger with recycled food, training adults to embark on culinary careers, serving healthy meals at schools, and rebuilding urban food systems. The nonprofit invites volunteers and donations of all kinds.

Those interested in helping can donate food; many people elect to organize a food drive and focus on one or two items. DC Central Kitchen always receives protein, beans, lentils, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, spices, flour, sugar, and oil. Additionally, the organization appreciates donations of gift cards to grocery stores and kitchen utensils such as knife kits and can openers. It also accepts cash donations through the website at https://dccentralkitchen.org/donate/.

DC Central Kitchen welcomes volunteers who are interested in helping with meal preparation and more. Visit the website for more details.