I am a medical oncologist with an expertise in endocrine and digestive tract neoplasms. Nowadays, I am working at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (Barcelona, Spain), focused on neuroendocrine and endocrine malignancies including lung and gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms, Merkel cell carcinoma, pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma, thyroid neoplasms and suprarenal carcinomas.

I obtained my medical degree at University of Barcelona (Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain) in June 2015, with an average grade of 9 out of 10. Indeed, I was awarded with Extraordinary Award of Degree in Medicine. Later, in February 2016 I took the national exam for access to the residency program, obtaining the position 290 out of 12,427 candidates (Percentile 97.7). I completed my residency in medical oncology at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital from June 2016 to June 2021. Finally, this October 2024 I took the ESMO Examination, obtaining 83 out of 96 points and the 14th position out of 688 candidates (Percentile 98.1).

During my residency and afterwards, I have attended and participated at national and international meetings, presenting oral communications as first author at national meetings and posters as firs author at national and international meetings (including ESMO meetings). These experiences have taught me social and communication skills. Moreover, attending those meetings and being involved in clinical and translational projects have aroused my curiosity for research in medical oncology.

Translational research and precision medicine has been the cornerstone of my medical oncology education. From a clinical point of view, I have been or still I am subinvestigator at more than 50 clinical trials, including phase I, II and III national and international clinical trials. These trials have involved targeted therapies, such as IDH or HER2 inhibitors, and different treatment modalities, such as peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT). Moreover, In July 2021 I completed the Master’s Degree on Molecular Oncology, a 1-year course taught by the Rey Juan Carlos University with collaboration of world-renowned experts of medical oncology and translational research (p.e. professor Mariano Barbacid).

I have had my own clinical trial proposals. In 2020, my clinical trial concept was selected for the EORTC-ESMO-AACR Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research (MCCR 2020). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the full course was replaced by a one-day virtual session. In this special scenario, participants were given the opportunity to re-apply for a future edition with a different project. I was selected again for the MCCR 2021 Workshop, where I developed a new protocol. The experience gained during this intensive training contributed directly to the design of a phase II clinical trial currently underway, evaluating sacituzumab govitecan in patients with differentiated and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (SETHY trial; Clinical trial identification: EU CT: 2023-504898-20-00 / NCT06235216).

 

Finally, I have also designed preclinical and translational research projects. In November 2021, I was awarded the Junior Grant (20,000 Euros) by the Spanish Taskforce of

Neuroendocrine and Endocrine Tumours (GETNE) for a project aiming to identify potential targets for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). This project has led to the development of a phase II clinical trial (EVNEC) testing enfortumab vedotin in patients with grade 3 neuroendocrine neoplasms (G3 NENs). Building on this work, further studies focusing on proteomic profiling of NENs are ongoing, aiming to identify novel therapeutic targets in this underexplored field. I am also an active member of the ENETS Basic and Translational Research Taskforce, contributing to collaborative efforts to advance translational research in NETs at the European level.

Dr Alejandro García Álvarez has received financial support/sponsorship for research support, consultation, or speaker fees from the following companies:

EISAI, Novartis, AAA, Ipsen, Advanz, Lilly, Amgen