Dr. Gilberto Lopes is a medical oncologist and researcher focused on new anticancer drug development and global oncology access. He is Division Chief and Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Miami, and one of the Associate Directors of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. As lead investigator of the Keynote 42 clinical trial, he demonstrated the efficacy of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab in people with lung cancer, presenting the results at ASCO’s 2018 plenary session in a study that led to FDA approval of pembrolizumab for advanced lung cancer. He has contributed to the development of several additional chemotherapies and targeted medications addressing specific molecular changes in tumors.
Gilberto has published more than 400 scientific and opinion papers in journals including Cancer, Nature Reviews, The Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Health Affairs, and has served as principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or steering committee member on more than 200 studies and clinical trials. He chairs the Access to Oncology Medications coalition, serves on the board of the Union for International Cancer Control, and is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of ASCO’s JCO Global Oncology. He has advised the World Health Organization, the Pan-American Health Organization, and governments around the world on cancer policy and access to treatment in low- and middle-income countries.
Gilberto’s overarching mission is to improve cancer care and control around the world, work he continues today alongside advisory and leadership roles with several biotechnology and diagnostics companies. That same mission, translating research into treatments patients can actually access, is what he brings to First Ascent Biomedical’s Medical Advisory Board.