Meet Dr. Roxana Dronca - Maya’s Mother

I am a medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic and the Chair of the Division of Hematology-Oncology, as well as the site Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida. As a physician, it would be fair to say that I devoted my life to treating cancer patients; yet it was not until 2020 that my life’s work became immensely personal.  In 2020, my seemingly healthy 6-year-old little girl, Maya, started having health problems and we quickly learned that Maya had an inoperable and incurable brain tumor, DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma). After a year and a half battle, Maya passed away on April 22, 2021.  That day changed the rest of my life forever. Initially, I did not know if I would be ever able to come back to work, face cancer every day, and see Maya in every single patient I treat. But I did, and I found that my mission was even more important, my ability to understand what my patients and their families go through while fighting this cruel disease, even greater.

To honor our daughter’s bravery, grace, and determination with which she fought cancer, we have created the Maya Dronca Foundation in her honor and loving memory. The mission of the Foundation is to mobilize significant resources and funding to support meaningful research initiatives in the fight against childhood cancer.

In addition to Maya’s Foundation, I knew that I wanted Maya’s legacy to live on in my work as well. Maya loved helping people. From a very young age she wanted to be a Doctor, and not any doctor; she wanted to be an oncologist to care for my patients when I am no longer able to do so. She used to say: “I know I will be a Mayo Clinic doctor one day. I know I can help people- and I do not even need to go to Medical School for that; after all, my initials are already MD”.

As an oncologist, a mother, and a caregiver, I saw first -hand how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting patients with cancer and their ability to access vital medical care.  To help with this, in the last couple of years I have become involved with a Mayo Clinic Institutional effort to envision and set up the Mayo Clinic’s Cancer Care Beyond Walls Program which is a new cancer care delivery model centered around patients and their needs. This program will allow patients like my daughter to receive some medical services at home, rather than having to painfully travel to the hospital for every single test and procedure. Maya inspired this dream, and, with the support of Mayo Clinic leadership, this vision has quickly become a reality. I am grateful and blessed to continue Maya’s legacy and to work with an amazing team at Mayo Clinic who went above and beyond to make this happen for our patients.