Scientific Committee
Scientific Committee
The FERO Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee. The guarantee of excellence.
The independence of the Scientific Committee is one of FERO Cancer’s pillars. Its members have no ties to the pharmaceutical industry. They evaluate projects using the same criteria they apply to their own research. And they are primarily interested in ensuring that funding reaches the best science, not the most convenient.
Committee Members
The members of the FERO Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee.
Dr Josep Tabernero
Medical Oncologist, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at Vall d’Hebron Hospital and Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Barcelona.
Dr. Aleix Prat
Oncólogo médico del Hospital Clínic de Barcelona,
Dr. Marisol Soengas
Microbiologist and Head of the Melanoma Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid.
Dr. Luis Paz-Ares
Medical Oncologist, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid and President of the Spanish Association for Cancer Research (ASEICA), Madrid.
Dr. Laura Soucek
Molecular Biologist and Geneticist, Head of the Anti-tumour Therapy Modelling Group at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Barcelona.
Dr. Andrés Cervantes
Medical Oncologist, Full Professor of Medicine at the University of Valencia, Head of Medical Oncology Department at the University Clinical Hospital of Valencia, and Scientific Director of INCLIVA, Valencia.
Dr. Ruth Vera
Medical Oncologist, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Navarra Hospital Complex, specialist in digestive tumours, Pamplona.
Dr. Arkaitz Carracedo
Biologist and Principal Investigator of the Cell Signaling and Cancer Metabolism Group at the Cooperative Research Centre in Biosciences (CICbioGUNE), Bilbao.
Dr Óscar Fernández Capetillo
Biochemist, Head of the Genomic Instability Group and Deputy Director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid.
Dr. Eduard Batlle
Molecular Biologist, Head of the Colorectal Cancer Group and Coordinator of the Oncology Programme at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona.
Dr. Angela Nieto
Biochemist and Molecular Biologist, Director of the Cellular Movements in Physiology and Pathology Group at the Institute of Neurosciences (CSIC-UMH), Alicante.
Dr. Núria López-Bigas
Biologist Expert in Cancer Computational Genomics and Head of the Biomedical Genomics Group at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona.
Dr. Esther Aguilar
Biochemist and Director of Scientific Management at the FERO Foundation, Barcelona
External Scientific Committee
The External Scientific Advisory Committee.
Composed of internationally renowned experts who provide an independent and strategic vision of FERO Cancer’s scientific activities. They advise the Foundation on scientific planning, identify emerging opportunities and trends, and help ensure that FERO’s funding programs and initiatives align with international best practices and the most relevant advances in cancer research.
Dr Susan Galbraith
Executive Vice President of Oncology at AstraZeneca
Dr. Antoni Ribas
Director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Dr. Eva Hernando-Monge
Professor of Pathology and Associate Director of Research at New York University (NYU)
Dr. Andrew Tutt
Director of the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research, London. Professor of Oncology at King’s College London.
Dr. Josep Tabernero
Director of VHIO — Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology
Specialty: Molecular Oncology
Dr. Aleix Prat
Clínic Barcelona Comprehensive Cancer Center
Specialty: Breast Cancer and Precision Medicine
Dr. Andrés Cervantes
INCLIVA — Hospital Clínico de Valencia
Specialty: Digestive Oncology
Dr. Luís Paz-Ares
Hospital 12 de Octubre · Madrid
Specialty: Lung Cancer
Dr. Antoni Ribas
International Expert
Specialty: Oncological Immunotherapy
Selection Criteria
The criteria by which we evaluate each project.
The real probability that project results will translate into a clinical application for patients. This is the most important and most difficult criterion to evaluate. The Scientific Committee has the experience to do so rigorously.
Soundness of study design, well-founded hypothesis, reproducible methodology. A scientifically weak project does not produce reliable results, regardless of the brilliance of the idea.
Principal investigator’s track record, strength of the research group, and the center’s capacity to execute the project. The best idea in the wrong hands does not produce results.
Number of patients who could benefit, clinical relevance of the problem addressed, urgency of the unmet medical need
Grants Jury
The Grants Jury. Independence and rigor in every call.
The composition of the Jury varies for each call to ensure maximum independence in evaluation. Jury members cannot have academic or institutional ties with the candidates they evaluate. The process is completely confidential.
The Jury evaluates applications in two phases: an initial technical evaluation that filters proposals meeting formal criteria, and an in-depth scientific evaluation of candidates that pass the first filter. Decisions are made by consensus, and the reasons are communicated to all evaluated candidates.
