National Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome Foundation Inc

We have a keen vision to see a future in which: MALS patients receive a timely diagnosis and comprehensive, supportive medical care; medical training involves new research provided to better understand this multifactorial disease; and a partnership of trust builds between the MALS patient and medical communities.

Our first strategy to achieve our ambitious goals is to create a website that will provide: information and patient stories to support adult patients and family members; a unique pediatric portal to provide child-friendly information for pediatric patients and family members; and clinical evidence and science-based information to educate clinicians on how to best diagnose and serve patients.

Our second strategy is to to create an educational video for patients and physicians to help spread awareness for MALS.

Our third strategy is to bring patients and family members together virtually and in various regions of the country: to learn from each other; to support each other and create local networks; to help fund our activities by hosting fundraising events, such as a future Million Steps for MALS walk.

Our 4th strategy is to create clinical areas of MALS expertise by connecting MALS experts with each other: through advocacy within clinical societies; through a future password-protected clinical portal on our website; through convenings of clinicians and patients in various regions of the country.

We have a four person Board of Trustees made of up MALS patients and family members who have professional expertise in multiple areas key to the successful creation of a nonprofit organization: Suzanne Keepley-Peek, President, has spent her life's passion and work in some form of patient/client centered care as a Certified Massage Therapist, hospice vigil volunteer, and bereavement support group facilitator in PA. She is the mother of a MALS patient. Robin Isley Schrader, Vice President, has a master's of social work and has spent the last 20 years as a school social worker while being a MALS patient. She is the Mental Health Coordinator for a school system in MD. Laura Gilmore, Secretary, is a designer and advocate having been a pediatric MALS patient, currently living in CO. Tanya M. Holton, Treasurer, has dedicated her entire professional life to nonprofit fundraising, always choosing organizations in the realm of education. She is a MALS patient in the Boston area.

We have a Medical Advisory Board made up of key clinicians in various MALS specialities: Christopher Skelly, MD is the Chief of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy at the University of Chicago Medical Center, and is a national expert in minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of MALS. He is working on numerous clinical trials involving MALS and other vascular issues. David M. Dickerson, MD is the Medical Director of Anesthesia Pain Management Services at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago, Illinois. He has worked extensively with MALS patients before, during, and after surgery. Dr. Gustavo Oderich is the Chair, Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He specializes in the treatment of chronic mesenteric ischemia and median arcuate ligament syndrome. Dr. Kevin El-Hayek is Section Head of Endoscopic Surgery and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery at the MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio. He has published and presented extensively on numerous gastrointestinal disorders including MALS; with a particular interest in evaluating the benefits of robotic-assisted surgery. Dr. Danny Shouhed is a minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgeon. His main focus of surgery is benign foregut disease, which includes Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS), GERD and Bariatrics. He has written over 70 peer reviewed articles and book chapters, several of which pertain to MALS. Dr. Woosup Michael Park is a surgeon specializing in MALS.

Our biggest accomplishments to date are: securing our nonprofit status, assembling our Clinical Advisory Board, creating the first-ever science-based website for MALS patients and clinicians, and the development of an educational video for physicians and clients through a partnership with Osmosis and NORD which was published in December 2021. Our next significant task is to create standard or guidance documents for proper diagnosis of MALS.