Our Board

Juliana's Journey Foundation Board of Directors
 
 
Jesus Peña 
Juliana's Dada & President
Jesus is the proud father of Juliana Peña, and he always wanted to start a foundation to generate funding and awareness for Neuroblastoma and intended to do so with Juliana by his side. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, but he has dedicated his life to fulfill the promise he made to Juliana - that he will fight this monster until his final breath. Jesus is well-liked by everyone he’s ever met, young and old, and has been a hard worker his entire life. He’s well-known in his community for his drive, dedication and tenacity. Jesus has worked for FedEx for 7+ years and is a huge asset to any organization; it’s ten-fold when it comes to his daughter and her foundation. Jesus is also a HUGE fan of ALL sports, but his love for the SF 49ers and Giants definitely rubbed off on Juliana.
 
 
Patricia Watson 
Juliana’s Mom & Founder/Treasurer
 
Patricia’s #1 job will always be Juliana Pena’s mom. She fully intends to do anything and everything she can to get as much awareness and money driven towards more successful and less toxic treatments for kids suffering from Neuroblastoma and all other pediatric cancers as she can, and she won’t take no for an answer. Patricia was recently voted into the worldwide NANT (New Approached to Neuroblastoma Therapy) Organization's Parent Advisory Council under Dr. Katherine Matthay's recommendation where she will be the UCSF and Bay Area Representative for NANT. She was selected out of a panel of over 100 candidates and graciously accepted the role instantly. Patricia became a California Board-Certified Paralegal in 2002 & her professional background as the Senior Project Manager for AcquireWeb since 2005 helped her with her success in proposal pitching. Her cross-training in HTML design has allowed Patricia to fully create and manage all of Juliana’s designs and website by herself.
 
Juliana's Journey Foundation Board Members
 
 
Rachel Turnow
Officer, Event Planning & Coordination - Peninsula

Rachel is a wonderful life-long friend of ours and was a great friend to Juliana. She has always supported us from the day Juliana was born and continues to generate awareness about Juliana’s Journey and Neuroblastoma in every way possible. Rachel has worked for SAMTRANS for 27 years and has many connections throughout the Bay Area. Her combination of professionalism, realism & humor makes Rachel one of the best-rounded people you will ever meet! Her awesome personality and enthusiasm brings great energy to our organization and we wouldn’t be complete without her!
 
 
Kathie Malkinson
Officer, Creative Director

Kathie is a childhood friend of Jesus and mother of two very cute little girls, Elle and Indigo. Juliana has always held a special place in her heart as she also had a form of Neuroblastoma as a child. Kathie currently works for SAMTRANS and also runs a small business of her own. Kathie is an absolute creative GENIUS and already has MANY ideas for fundraising in place and items that she can make and manufacture on the foundation’s behalf. Kathie has many powerful contacts throughout the Bay Area and we hope they decide to join our fight against Childhood Cancer!
 
 
Michelle Milam-Alexis
Officer, Event Planning & Coordination - SF Bay Area

Michelle was drawn to Juliana before we even met her – her adorable daughter, Maya, decided that in lieu of gifts for her birthday, she wanted her friends and their parents to donate to Juliana’s Journey Foundation. Michelle’s other beautiful daughter, Kaylin, decided to do the same. Through this connection, a life-long friendship was formed. She’s worked at La Petite Baleen Swim School since June of 2000 where she teaches children from 2 mos on up to find their love for water, how to respect it & be safe. She also had the opportunity to work with children with special needs which led her to be a volunteer swim coach for Special Olympics of San Mateo County. Michelle has always felt it is important to give back to the community & dedicates herself completely to Juliana’s Journey Foundation, hands down.
 
 
Jennifer Woodbury
Officer, Event Planning & Coordination - South Bay

Jennifer Woodbury learned about Juliana's Journey through Facebook around the time of her 1st Angelversary and has been one of "Citas Soldiers", our friend, and a Childhood Cancer advocate ever since. She has promised Juliana that she would never give up hope and the fight for a cure. Jennifer is a proud mother of three children, son Jacob and daughters Alyssa & Gianna. Jennifer has her California State Board Pharmacy Technician License and has been working with Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy since 2002. Jennifer feels honored to be a board member and part of the "JJF Family". She wants everyone to know about Juliana and her Journey so they become aware of childhood cancer and help by joining the fight. Jennifer's commitment to JJF has definitely shined through - before being asked to join our Board, she has attended EVERY event that we've had and probably owns every piece of JJF support merchandise there is! We are proud to have her on on Cita's Team.
 
 
Sandra Viana
Officer, Public Relations
Sandra is a close friend of our family. The first time Sandra met Juliana, she knew it would be her calling to do something big on her behalf. Sandra has always stood next to us and has been waiting for the opportunity to help us with Juliana’s Foundation and also wishes to help other families get through their own personal battles with pediatric cancers. She is currently a loan officer & also has an extensive professional background; however the most important job she has is being a wonderful mother to her 3 sons. Sandra is great with the public and is a perfect fit for this foundation.
 
 
Medical Advisory Board
 
 
Dr. Katherine Matthay, M.D.
Medical Board Member

Dr. Katherine Matthay is the Mildred V. Strouss Professor of translational oncology at the University of California San Francisco, and is internationally known for her work in advancing therapy of neuroblastoma. She is the leader of the Pediatric Malignancies program in the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF.  She served as North American continental president for the International Society of Pediatric Oncology, and is currently the president of the Advances in Neuroblastoma Research Association. She initiated several landmark randomized trials in neuroblastoma in the COG, improving outcome with high dose therapy and bone marrow transplant and with isotretinoin and then with antibody therapies. She established the NCI-funded NANT clinical trials consortium for targeted therapy of neuroblastoma, now in its third 5-year cycle.  She has been a leader in the development of targeted radiotherapy for neuroblastoma with the 131I-mIBG, which she initiated at UCSF in 1987. She cares for children with relapsed and resistant neuroblastoma from many corners of the world, providing new therapies to try to overcome tumor resistance.

When Dr. Matthay learned of Juliana's passing, she opened up her arms to us and offered us the ability to visit her labs, meet her researchers, share her knowledge and progress in NB therapies, and offered to speak at any events we have in the future for Juliana's Journey.
 
 
 
 
Dr. W. Clay Gustafson, M.D., PhD 
Medical Board Member

Dr. W. Clay Gustafson is a pediatric cancer specialist in the Children's Cancer and Blood Disease Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. He is a physician scientist with a laboratory interest in developing novel therapeutics for pediatric solid tumors, particularly neuroblastoma. His focus is on designing therapies to target the MYC family of proteins, which are critical to cancer biology and potentially an “achiles heel” in neuroblastoma. Clinically, he cares primarily for children with relapsed and refractory neuroblastoma with a focus on emerging therapies. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Juliana's Journey Foundation
P.O. Box 246 • South San Francisco, CA 94083-0246 
Content copyright 2012-2014. JULIANASJOURNEY.ORG. All rights reserved.