Dr Maki is a medical oncologist who has focused for over 20 years to understand tumors arising from connective tissues, which include sarcomas and other aggressive tumors that do not metastasize, such as desmoid tumors. These tumors represent less than 1% of all cancers that happen in adults. I work with patients with these diagnoses to find the right treatment for the 70 or more types of bone and soft tissue sarcomas and other soft tissue tumors. As part of this work, I also reserach new medications for cancer in general, a field called developmental therapeutics. In my research, I seek to find new medications that may be useful for sarcoma patients, and try to figure out why they work or not. I work closely with colleagues at Penn Medicine, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and with other national and international teams of researchers such as SARC, the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration, to improve the understanding and treatment of sarcomas.

Prof. Robert Maki has received financial support/sponsorship for research support, consultation, or speaker fees from the following companies:

 American Society for Clinical Oncology,  Bayer, Deciphera, Kayopharm, Peel Therapeutics and Tracon.