The Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation

Alessandro Gronchi, MD

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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.

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Dr. Sameer Rastogi is a faculty member in the Department of Medical Oncology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, a leading tertiary care center in North India. Currently, he is running a dedicated sarcoma/desmoids/Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) medical oncology clinic at AIIMS New Delhi. He did his Medical Oncology fellowship at Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, and has various publications to his credit including reputed journals. He has received various international awards including the Young Investigator award from SIOP (International Society of Pediatric Oncology) and the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) Asia Pacific award.

He has worked on various aspects of desmoid such as sorafenib efficacy, toxicities and outcome, Quality of life study on desmoid, etc., and also has a patient support group Sachin Sarcoma Society closely working with him which supports desmoid patients with various resources. 

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Dale R. Shepard MD, PhD is the Director of the Taussig Phase I and Sarcoma programs at Cleveland Clinic. In this role, Dr. Shepard oversees the early development of the new cancer therapies including the genomic-based treatments and immunotherapies that are revolutionizing the care of patients with cancer. He sees nearly 200 sarcoma consults annually with patients from across the country including patients with desmoid tumors. As a medical oncologist and clinical researcher, he has been the principal
investigator for dozens of clinical trials and has been a recipient of a National Cancer Institute Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award. Dr. Shepard is a thought leader for management of sarcoma, gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancers and has been a consultant for many pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Shepard earned a PhD in Pharmacology and his MD at The Ohio State University and completed a Clinical Pharmacology fellowship at the University of Chicago.

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Dr. Maleddu is a Medical Oncologist specializing in sarcoma currently working at the University of Colorado. She treats patients with soft tissue and bone sarcomas, and she has a special interest on desmoid tumors and clinical trials. She completed her training in Italy and the UK. She did her Sarcoma Fellowship at the University College London Hospital in 2020, her general oncology training at the University of Bologna and her MD from the University of Cagliari in Italy.

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Jerry March is currently Executive Vice President of KenKen LLC, a digital marketing company based in Pleasantville, New York that develops unique products for the toy, gaming, and education industries. After graduating cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in History and from Harvard Business School, Jerry pursued a successful career in general management as an executive and investor.  He co-founded Arden Group Publications, a national publisher of regional consumer wedding magazines, where he served as President, and was a principal and EVP at Venture Opportunities Corporation, a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) where he invested in, and provided strategic planning and senior management, to a variety of businesses owned and operated by underrepresented populations.

For the past 11 years, he served as a Senior Executive at MBI, Inc., the world’s leading direct response marketer of consumer collectibles, where he was in charge of all strategic development, business operations, management, and marketing for a $60 million division. In addition to his executive experience, Jerry has been actively involved in a number of non-profit entities.  For four years, he served as the Chairman of the Byram Hills Education Foundation where he raised more than $1.4 million dollars to fund grants proposed by the district’s educators and administration.  He was also a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Banksville Nursery School and is currently serving on the Board of Trustees for the North Castle Public Library. 

Jerry and his wife Mary live in Bedford, New York, and are proud parents of three children.

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Maria T. Crocitto is CEO of Advantage Communications, LLC, a medical education and communications company she founded in New York City in 1997. Maria has been a leading expert in implementing global education plans for medical societies, research centers, and the pharmaceutical industry. Her hands-on experience ranges from clinical research to journalism to the development of strategic medical education programs. 

After attending the Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program at Columbia University, she earned a M.A. degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and a Certificate in Science and Environmental Reporting from New York University. Prior to founding Advantage, as a Science Writer at Medical Tribune, her articles were syndicated in Asian Medical News and the Japanese hospital posters medical bulletins. Maria also worked for six years in the United States Bureau of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. She is fluent in English, Italian, and Spanish. 

Outside the office, she has devoted her time to serving on the board of directors of the DTRF and working on projects in Africa and the U.S for AIDS foundations, overnight homeless shelters and soup kitchens, supporting women survivors of war, and fundraising for hospitals’ neonatal intensive care units.