Jeff grew up with the Leider family and has been a long time friend of the Sarcoma Alliance. In 2001 he raised money for the Alliance by running in the Marathon des Sables, a 150 mile race across the Sahara in Morocco. In 2005 he was the moving force behind the successful Spirit of Survival walk/run in California. He is currently a product manager in the semiconductor industry.

Joan’s daughter was diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric sarcoma, in 1996 at the age of 13. She successfully underwent a year of treatment that included twelve rounds of chemotherapy, 28 doses of radiation, and five operations at Omaha Children’s Hospital and at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Joan is a biologist and works as an environmental consultant in Nebraska. Since 2001 she has volunteered as a Patient Advocate with the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), the cooperative group that designs and implements clinical trials for childhood cancers.  She also volunteers in a variety of other patient advocacy roles, including co-managing the ACOR Rhabdo-Kids mailing list; serving on the board of Lincoln Candlelighters and facilitating the adult support group; and contributing articles to ESUN (Electronic Sarcoma Update Newsletter). On the Sarcoma Alliance Board, she represents pediatric sarcoma patients, who make up roughly 15% sarcoma patients diagnosed each year in this country.

Deb Gates is the "three-fer" on the Sarcoma Alliance Board. Counting both her late husband's family and her own family, three different family members are fighting, or have succumbed to, the following sarcomas: leiomyosarcoma, angiosarcoma and a Desmoid Tumor. Deb received her undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary, her J.D. from the University of Virginia, and an LLM from the University of Washington. She has served on the Board of Directors of a variety of non-profit organizations, including serving as President of the Board of Directors of a hospice that was the second in the state to receive JCAHO accreditation.

Deb enjoys running marathons and triathlons in her spare time. During these events, she wears sarcoma colors to remember and honor all who have had to fight this terrible disease.

Active in organizations such as the Lymphoma Foundation for years, Jim was excited and honored to join the Sarcoma Alliance Board of Directors in 2010, where he serves on the Marketing and Fundraising Committees and hopes to build on the lasting legacy of the Alliance founder. After earning a B.A. in Film and Television from UCLA, Jim returned to receive his J.D./MBA from the UCLA School of Law and UCLA Anderson School of Management before relocating to New York. Jim is an entertainment and marketing attorney and partner in the New York law firm Davis & Gilbert LLP. He currently lives in suburban New York with his beautiful wife and three energetic children. When not trying to keep pace with his kids, he enjoys hiking and scuba diving.

Inspired by Suzanne Leider and the founding directors of the Sarcoma Alliance, Denise joined the board in 2000 and presently chairs the Board Development and Assistance Fund Committees.  Denise has a B.A. in Speech Communication from California State University, Fresno and was employed in the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years.  Currently she serves as a director on several non-profit boards which address needs in the areas of health, early childhood education, and community.  Denise resides in San Francisco with her husband and daughter where she enjoys hiking, cooking, reading and traveling.

Ade Lawal is the Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Medical Imaging, an operator of medical imaging centers. In addition to the Sarcoma Alliance, Ade is on the development board of St. Raphael Elementary School in Los Angeles. He has previously served on the boards of other non profits such as DEAF-Reach and St-Aemilian Lakeside that help families and children cope better with life's challenges . Ade has a BSc. from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He enjoys running, cooking and performing arts. Although he once performed in a Broadway style show, he generally sticks to his day job.

Philip is the brother of Suzanne Leider, the founder of the Sarcoma Alliance, and he is a founding Board member and past President of the Board of Directors. Philip is a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Chapman, Popik & White LLP.  After earning his B.A. in Literature from Yale University , Philip went on to pursue graduate studies in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. He received his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall). In his free time, Philip enjoys golf and tennis, playing piano, and traveling with his husband, Tony Buckman.

Dave Murphy is an active figure in the online sarcoma community, devoting his energy among various lists but especially to the sarcoma list for the Association of Cancer Online Resources (ACOR.org).  His wife, Piera, died after a 15 month battle with Leiomyosarcoma, later diagnosed as malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma in 1999.

Because of his strong personal belief in supporting this underserved community, he is well-known and loved by the many people who go to these lists seeking information and resources.  Dave joined the Sarcoma Alliance Board of Directors in October of 2002.  Dave has represented the Sarcoma Alliance at conferences like American Association of Cancer Research, Oncology Nursing Society, Society of Gynecologic Oncology and the Connective Tissue Oncology Society.

Dave currently works as a Computer Lab Specialist at El Camino Community College in Torrance, California and is in charge of nearly 400 computers in 9 computer labs on campus. He is conversant in Italian, French, and Spanish.

Inspired by the cancer survivorship of loved ones, Jennifer joined the Sarcoma Alliance in 2010 to help further its mission of offering education, guidance, and support to sarcoma patients and their caregivers. Jennifer earned a B.A. in Womenís Studies and Latin American Area Studies from Denison University and an M.A. in Public Policy and Management from the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. She brings a particular interest in program evaluation, which she developed through her work in the private, non-profit, and government sectors. Jennifer resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two young daughters. In addition to her work to reduce prematurity and infant mortality, Jennifer enjoys cooking and baking, walking in marathons and the Breast Cancer 3-Day, and having big fun with her family.

Kevin Plottner is a graphic designer in the San Francisco Bay area. He graduated from Tulane University with an Architecture degree in 1984. In 1998 he created the original Sarcoma Alliance web site when his wife, Wendy, a sarcoma patient, and Suzanne Leider, first conceived the idea of a sarcoma support organization. He is the creator of our original logo seen on the “Our Founders” page and the artwork for Sage Cuisine. Today he helps maintain the Alliance web site and oversees the production of our newsletter and various printed materials for the organization.

Suzie Siegel spent more than 18 years as a full-time newspaper reporter and editor at newspapers in Little Rock, New Orleans and Tampa. She has a bachelor's of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a master's in women's studies from the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she lives. She's in remission from metastatic leiomyosarcoma and spends much time volunteering on behalf of sarcoma patients. She participates in peer-to-peer programs for the Alliance as well as the M.D. Anderson Network. As a sarcoma advocate, she attends meetings of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists. She writes for the Alliance's blog and newsletter. Her personal experience with sarcoma can be found athttp://www.sarcomaalliance.org/Stories/stories25.shtml

Marites met Suzanne Leider, founder of the Sarcoma Alliance, early in their respective nursing careers at the University of California, San Francisco where they formed a lifetime friendship and commitment to helping the community of people affected by sarcoma. Marites earned her BS in Nursing from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1992. A dedicated Bruin, she obtained her Master’s degree in Nursing from UCLA in 2006. She is currently a Nurse Practitioner at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, a county facility which provides health care to the uninsured, indigent and medically underserved population of Los Angeles. As a founding board member, Marites remains dedicated to advancing the mission of the Alliance in Suzanne’s honor and in honor of the people we serve.