Hyundai Hope on Wheels donates $75,000 grant to Levine Children's hospital

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A local hospital will receive a $75,000 grant from Hyundai Hope on Wheels and Charlotte area Hyundai dealers Thursday.

The Hyundai Scholar Grant will be presented to Dr. Javier Oesterheld at Levine Children's Hospital of Charlotte for his developmental therapeutics program.

Levine is one of 43 recipients of the grant created to support principal investigators pursuing research to improve the lives of children battling pediatric cancer.

Hope on Wheels plans to donate $12 million in 2012 to children's hospitals nationwide.  Its hope is to surpass $57 million in total donations to pediatric cancer research since its inception in 1998.

"I am honored to be the recipient of the Hyundai Hope on Wheels Scholar Grant," said Oesterheld. "The advances we are making in developmental therapeutics, and all of pediatric cancer research and treatment at Levine Children's Hospital, can be directly attributed to the generous support from friends like Hyundai.   On behalf of the patients I am privileged to serve, thank you for your loyal support of Levine Children's Hospital."

The program is funded by Hyundai and its U.S. dealers. Every new vehicle sold in the U.S. aids Hyundai and its dealers in funding important life-saving research.

"We see Hope On Wheels as a critical part of our mission at Hyundai," said John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. "Pediatric cancer takes far too many young lives and impacts far too many families. We are proud to work with our Hyundai dealers to fund research to end this disease.  We congratulate each doctor and institution receiving our grants, and commend them for the important work they are doing."

WSOC