Cristabelle De Souza, PhD is an Instructor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where she leads a translational research program dedicated to the study of tumor microenvironment biology and the engineering of novel therapeutic antibodies. Her work resides at the intersection of immunology and pathology, with a specific focus on the signaling circuits between cancer-associated fibroblasts and the innate immune system that drive progression in aggressive solid tumors.

As a Principal Investigator supported by the Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation (DTRF), Dr. De Souza is spearheading the development of first-in-class therapeutic strategies for fibrotic tumor models. Her research investigates the mechanisms of stromal-immune reprogramming, seeking to leverage these pathways to halt tumor growth and improve patient outcomes. Her technical expertise includes high-dimensional spatial proteomics, patient-derived organoid modeling, and complex 3D co-culture systems, enabling her to move discoveries from the laboratory bench toward preclinical validation.

Dr. De Souza’s career is marked by the development of significant intellectual property, including three patents for therapeutic strategies such as an anti-CD63 program and a recycling anti-Osteopontin (OPN) antibody. She has been selected for highly competitive leadership and innovation programs, including the Emerson Consequential Scholars Program and the 50 Years VC Fellowship. In addition to her research, she serves as a dedicated mentor and instructor at Stanford, where she has trained over 30 scientists and clinicians in tumor microenvironment biology and translational therapeutics.

Dr. Al-Jazrawe leads the High Throughput Sciences (HTS) platform at the Koch Institute. He develops and applies multiplexed deep-sequencing, functional genomics, high-content imaging and machine learning methods to produce genomically credentialed desmoid tumor cell models and therapeutic vulnerability resources to share with the community.

Alessandro Gronchi MD received his MD degree from Milan University in 1992, completed his residency training in General Surgery in 1997 and a fellowship in Surgical Oncology in 1998. He holds the National Scientific qualification for full professor of General Surgery. He is chief of the Sarcoma Service since 2001 and chair of the department of Surgery since 2022 at the National Cancer Institute – Milan – Italy.

He is involved in all institutional research activities on sarcoma, which include neoadjuvant therapies in extremity and retroperitoneal sarcomas, new targets for specific STS types, genomic characterization of DF and its impact in tumor progression, mechanisms of resistance to therapy in GIST. He is the Principal Investigator of several Italian and International trials on STS, DF and GIST.

He serves as member of the board of directors of the Italian Sarcoma Group, member of the board of directors of the European Society of Surgical Oncology 2020-2024; international representative on the executive council of the SSO 2021-2024; member of the Sarcoma Task Force of the European Society for Medical Oncology. He was chair of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (2015-2017), president of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (2016); president of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology (2019-2021). He is member of the European Surgical Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and honorary member of the Polish Society of Surgical Oncology. He is one of the initiators of a global collaborative effort on retroperitoneal sarcoma (Trans-atlantic Australasian RetroPeritoneal Sarcoma Working Group, TARPSWG), which involves over 180 institutions worldwide. Dr. Gronchi has authored more than 500 scientific publications (Scopus HIndex 96), serves as Associate Editor of Annals of Surgical Oncology, Journal of Surgical Oncology, Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, Therapeutics Advances in Medical Oncology; Updates in Surgery.

Matt van de Rijn, MD, PhD, received both of his degrees from the University of Amsterdam, the latter based on his research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, he completed his residency training in surgical pathology and joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. 

In 1998 he returned to Stanford where he is now a Professor in Pathology. His research has focused on sarcoma, and he reported the first major gene expression profiling study on sarcomas in 2002. The identification of a novel translocation involving CSF1 in PVNS resulted in several ongoing clinical trials. In addition, his group discovered a novel diagnostic marker for GIST (DOG1). Gene expression profiling studies also led to the investigation of the role of macrophages in leiomyosarcoma (LMS) and GIST with an opportunity to develop therapeutic targets for these tumors. In addition to his work on LMS and GIST he has performed gene expression profiling studies on Desmoid Tumors to study the biology that underlies the aggressive behavior of these tumors, to develop novel diagnostic markers and discover novel therapeutic targets. 

Dr. van de Rijn is the principal investigator of the DTRF-funded study, “Next generation sequencing approach to desmoid tumors.”

Jean Paty, PhD, is an acknowledged leader in the effective strategies and practices of capturing patient perspective data for use in the clinical development and commercial success of new medical products. He has not only published extensively in the areas of patient reported outcomes (PRO) and electronic PRO (ePRO), but also on the regulatory guidance for development and implementation of ePRO. He has worked closely with the international industry and regulatory agencies on ePRO best practices. 

Dr. Paty’s work is well-referenced in a wide variety of peer-reviewed journals and in numerous conferences and events, where he has presented his findings on the scientific, clinical, and regulatory implications of Clinical Outcome Assessment (COA) data collection in clinical trials.

Dr. Paty has a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Toronto and an M.S. and PhD in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Paty joined Quintiles (now IQVIA) from invivodata (now ERT), where he was most recently Chief Scientific and Regulatory Advisor, Outcomes. Dr. Paty has collaborated with industry and regulatory agency groups on PRO and ePRO best practices, and has partnered with invivodata Co-Founder Dr. Saul Shiffman since 1990 on the creation of real-time/real-world solutions to study patient experience. He has also held positions in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, PA, and the Addiction Research Foundation (Toronto, Canada). Recent publications include articles on regulations guiding development and implementation of patient reported outcomes (PRO), and electronic implementation of PROs (ePRO).

Roeland Nusse, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Developmental Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine, the Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He is also a member of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford and the Stanford Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine. 

Dr. Nusse received his PhD from the Netherlands Cancer Institute at the University of Amsterdam in 1980. He completed postdoctoral studies at the University of California, San Francisco in 1982 working with Dr. Harold Varmus. After several years as head of the molecular biology department at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, he returned to the Bay Area and joined the Stanford medical faculty in 1990 as an associate professor of developmental biology, where he was later promoted to professor. In 1997 he became associate chair of the Department of Developmental Biology, and in 1999 he was appointed as chair of the department. In 2010, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Nusse is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences.