Associate Research Physician, Staff Clinician
Pediatric Oncology Branch/ National Cancer Institute/ National Institute of Health
Besthesda, Maryland, United States
My name is Mary Frances Wedekind Malone and I am a pediatric oncologist that has specialized in pediatric sarcoma and rare tumors. I have an area of focus to develop clinical trials for these in need populations with an expertise in immunotherapy, particularly oncolytic virotherapy and checkpoint blockade. I have experience in the development and implementation of natural history studies for these rare tumors and have a passion to learn through the natural history to help accelerate the development of impactful clinical trials for the pediatric sarcoma and rare tumor population. I am the principal investigator for the Natural History of Rare Solid tumors in Pediatrics and Adults. I have a special interest in both SDH-deficient GIST and chordoma. I am part of a team that is actively trying to understand the natural history of chordoma via prospective and retrospective data collection. My other interest lies in hereditary tumor syndromes, especially to prospectively analyze patients with germline mutations through time to determine differences in those developing cancerous tumors and those that do not. This patient population holds a separate cohort within the Natural History of Rare solid tumors protocol. With knowledge gained from this natural history study, I will conduct clinical trials to bring better therapies to rare and ultra rare pediatric solid tumors. My overarching goal is to bring novel agents or strategies to the clinical trial landscape for these rare pediatric tumors while also trying to understand the natural history and the molecular/genetic profile through numerous analysis of tumor tissue.
Thursday, March 5, 2026
11:00 AM - 11:07 AM MST