Meet Our Team
Staff and Volunteers

Jeanne Whiting
Co-Founder/Executive Director
Prior to co-founding DTRF, Jeanne spent most of her career as an attorney. After attending University of Michigan Law School and J. Reuben Clark Law School, she received a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, in 1980. She then clerked for the Michigan Court of Appeals in Detroit, Michigan, and in succeeding years practiced with Sidley & Austin in Cairo, Egypt and in Washington, D.C.; with Shearman & Sterling in New York, New York; with Stern, Dubrow & Marcus in Maplewood, NJ; and, as a sole practitioner.
After retiring from the practice of law to raise her family, Jeanne became involved in various nonprofit organizations, including serving as Northeast Director for Choice Humanitarian (1997-1998) and Executive Director of FamilyCares (2000). She feels that getting a desmoid tumor was both a wake-up call and a calling to a new endeavor as it became clear to her as a patient that this was a field that needed jumpstarting into a new level of accelerated research to develop new treatments.
Jeanne resides in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband Steve. They raised four sons and a daughter, and now enjoy their seven beautiful grandchildren.

Marlene Portnoy
Co-Founder/Special Projects
After graduating magna cum laude from Albany State University in 1981, Marlene pursued a career in sales, which she started at Corning Glass Works from 1982-1985 in Chicago, Illinois. She then moved to New York and worked for Playskool Toys, a division of Hasbro Toys, first as a sales representative and then as a District Sales Manager for the Middle Atlantic territory from 1986-1993. She then took time out to raise her two young children and became active in community service which has included activities such as running various social action programs, participating in the local soup kitchen, and working on golf outings and walk-a-thons for local community interests.
Marlene enjoys such active pursuits as running, hiking, biking and skiing. She has a passion for travel and experiencing other cultures. Marlene’s big bucket list items are finding a cure for desmoid tumors and going to Mt. Everest!
She resides in Tuxedo, NY, with her husband Steve. Marlene has two beautiful daughters, Brittany and Danielle, two wonderful sons-in-law, Adam and Mike, and THREE adorable grandsons, Grant, Mason, and Brooks. Her children and husband all take an active interest in the Foundation.

Lynne Hernandez
Operations Director
Although Lynne’s work experience spans many sectors/ industries (federal gov’t, retail, dotcom, large nonprofit, small nonprofit, small business), they pale in comparison to the depth and satisfaction she receives through her work with DTRF.
Lynne lives in Philadelphia, PA, the home of DTRF’s Annual Patient Meeting and RFA 5K.

Debbie Nathan
Development Director
Originally from Michigan and a graduate of Michigan State University, Debbie has been a Texan for the past twenty years but still considers Michigan her home. She has worked in many facets of the nonprofit sector throughout her career, but found that development is where her passion lies.
Debbie comes to us with a wealth of disease-specific, non-profit experience from her time with the Lupus Foundation and later, as the Development Director of the South Central Chapter of the Parkinson’s Foundation. In that role, she was responsible for all facets of strategic fundraising and planning including cultivating and stewarding donors, securing major gifts, corporate sponsorships, grant writing and event planning.
The role of Development Director gives her what she enjoys most professionally–the opportunity to build one-on-one relationships. She looks forward to forging new relationships that will help the Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation reach its goals. Debbie is excited for the opportunity to work with an organization with a mission and values that align with her own.
In her free time, Debbie’s favorite things to do are to attend festivals, concerts, and live theater with friends and family. She’s passionate about many things but especially her children, Nick and Isabella and her fur babies, Bear, Huck and Finn. Taking the pups for daily walks and finding them happily laying behind her work chair brings her tremendous joy.
Although Lynne’s work experience spans many sectors/ industries (federal gov’t, retail, dotcom, large nonprofit, small nonprofit, small business), they pale in comparison to the depth and satisfaction she receives through her work with DTRF.
Lynne lives in Philadelphia, PA, the home of DTRF’s Annual Patient Meeting and RFA 5K.

Maggie Cameron
Communications Manager
She comes to the DTRF as a rare cancer survivor. Diagnosed in 2011 with Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma (EHE) found in the liver and lungs, she has undergone a liver resection and multiple tumor ablations. Living just south of Pittsburgh, PA, she has been lucky to find doctors that have familiarity with EHE at UPMC and Hillman Cancer Center. With a ‘watch and wait’ approach, Maggie is able to have an active professional and personal life. Professionally, she has contributed web design/development and social media work for The EHE Foundation and feels this is the best way she can give back to her EHE community.
Maggie has also operated her own small web design, branding and digital marketing agency servicing small businesses and nonprofits. With a blend of creativity and strategy, her clients have enjoyed a single point of contact for all of their communications needs. This all-inclusive approach has allowed Maggie to develop a wide range of communication skills that she is thrilled to translate to the DTRF!
When she is not sitting at her computer, she enjoys spending time with her family, skiing with her kids, hiking with her dog and laughing with her friends.

Kelly Mercier, PhD
Principal Investigator, The DTRF Patient Registry & Natural History Study

Mrinal Gounder, MD
Scientific Director

Amanda Hoffman
Media/Marketing Advisor, ADH Communications
Originally from Boston, she graduated from American University in Washington, DC, with a BA in Journalism. Amanda is also a published author, editor and avid supporter of the arts, having danced competitively through her teens. She continued dancing in college, but at the age of 21, she was diagnosed with a desmoid tumor in her calf muscle. Since then, she has been through multiple treatments, including surgery and three chemotherapies, but still lives with the disease. She found DTRF in 2009 while searching for information on her rare condition and, eager to do what she could to help find a cure, volunteered her professional skills to the Foundation. Amanda was the Marketing Chair for the inaugural DTRF Running for Answers 5K and has served on the committee in a marketing and outreach consulting capacity each year since. Her current business was born out of her love for the work she was doing for DTRF. Since its launch in 2013, Amanda’s business has been an official sponsor for the Running for Answers 5K, filming and editing promotional videos for the event and DTRF. Outside of video production, Amanda advises the Foundation on PR, marketing, and social media management. She is honored to work with the wonderful and dedicated team at DTRF.
To learn more about her company, please visit her Facebook business page: https://www.facebook.com/ADHCommunications/
Allison Harper, MS

Allison Harper, MS
Published Research Advisor
Allison was diagnosed with a Desmoid Tumor in Feb 2018, located in her left chest wall. She underwent extensive excision and reconstruction and has been tumor-free since March 2018, although not without long-term effects and chronic pain. Being a desmoid patient and a medical professional made her want to get more involved in the Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation and help those in similar situations.
Allison lives in Oxford, MI with her husband and our blended family of 5 kids. Therefore, my hobbies include chauffeuring and keeping 5 kids alive and well.
She brings her interest in research and science to our Published Research Advisor role.

Amanda L. Lucas
Associate, DTRF Natural History Study

Bill Lundgren
Graphic Designer

Philip Grand
Technical Advisor
Philip has designed and developed applications supporting the eCommerce, Financial, Manufacturing and Research areas of several Fortune 500 companies. He has also created various digital photo slide shows incorperating music and special effects.
He currently owns and operates P Grand Technology LLC and works for Barenecessities.com. Philip resides in Hillsborough, New Jersey with his wife, and two daughters.