Onkologia

Maria Alsina, MD PhD, is a medical oncologist focused on gastrointestinal malignancies currently working at Hospital Universitario de Navarra (HUN) and leading the Translational Medical Oncology Unit at Navarrabiomed-IdiSNA, Pamplona-Spain. Strongly committed to clinical research, Dr. Alsina has been developing her career always linked to the scientific research, justified by the co-authorship almost 100 published manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, in 21 as first and/or corresponding author (h-index of 29 and over 5.745 citations in Scopus; as of Jan 2026).

She is member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), currently a faculty member of the Upper Gastrointestinal malignancies group, and of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), where co-leads of the Gastric Cancer Task Force). She is also a member of the Grupo Español de Tratamiento de Tumores Digestivos (TTD) in Spain, in which co-leads the Translational Task Force, and a member of the Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica (SEOM).

She started her career at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), working as a physician responsible of Gastroesophageal Cancers (2009 – 2020), and leading the clinical and translational research of these diseases. She obtained her PhD in 2016, with a thesis titled ‘Molecular characterization of HER2-positive gastric cancer; resistance mechanisms to anti-HER2 treatment (cum laude).

In 2021, after having her first child, she moved to Pamplona to work at HUN, joining the Gastrointestinal Tumors Unit. Since her arrival, she has been actively involved in clinical research by increasing the number of clinical trials (specifically, she has been able to open seven phase II-III clinical trials as principal investigator). In 2022, after a second maternity, she was granted with an “intensification” program, thus having the opportunity to create the Transitional Medical Oncology Research Unit at Navarrabiomed, Pamplona. Based on a precision oncology principle, her research focuses the understanding of the genetic causes and biological processes of cancer drivers. Currently, her Research Unit have different investigational projects facing three different lines; i.e., precision oncology, immune-oncology, and early-onset cancer.

In terms of teaching experience. She has a wide experience in training students and residents of Medical Oncology. Also, she has lead a Juan de la Cierva post-PhD fellowship, and she is currently leading an AECC 2024 post-PhD fellowship and an AECC 2023 Clínico Junior predoctoral fellowship. She is currently co-leading 3 doctoral theses (PhD), 1 master’s thesis (TFM) and 2 final degree theses (TFG).

Finally, she serves as a reviewer for several journals including Annals of Oncology (member of the Editorial Board since 2017), Clinical Cancer Research, ESMO Open, ESMO Gastrointestinal Oncology, ESMO RWD and DO, J Clin Oncol, Lancet Oncol, Targeted Oncology, British Journal of Cancer, Molecular Oncology, Nat Med, OncoImmunology and Oncotarget.