Faculty Biographies

Rafael Fonseca, MD, is the Chief Innovation Officer, Getz Family Professor of Cancer, Distinguished Mayo Investigator. He earned his MD at Universidad Anahuac, Mexico. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Miami, FL, and a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN. He was named a clinical investigator for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund. He is a visiting healthcare fellow at the Goldwater Institute.

Dr Fonseca’s practice has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of plasma cell disorders and leading the multiple myeloma team in its effort to develop a better understanding of the disease and its impact on patients. In his laboratory, Dr Fonseca has led his team of researchers in concentrating on the genetic nature of the clonal cells of plasma cell disorders, myeloma bone disease, prognostic markers, and development of new therapies for the disease.

Throughout his training and career, Dr Fonseca has received numerous awards and honors, including the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Clinical Investigator Award, and the International Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Research Award. Most notably, he is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator, the highest academic distinction given to investigators at his institution. Dr Fonseca holds memberships and serves in positions for organizations such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, American Association for Cancer Research, and the International Myeloma Society. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (R01, P01, SPORE), the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Multiple Myeloma Research Fund, and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund. Dr Fonseca serves as reviewer and in editorial capacities for medical publications including Blood, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Leukemia, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others. He has given many national and international presentations as a visiting professor, and has authored numerous articles (over 300), book chapters, editorials, abstracts, and letters.

Prof Philippe Moreau is a professor of clinical hematology at the University Hospital of Nantes in France. He received his medical degree from the University of Reims in France and completed a fellowship and hematology training at the University of Nantes.

Prof Moreau’s clinical interests are focused on multiple myeloma and its treatment with high-dose therapy and novel agents. He is president of International Myeloma Society and a member of the steering committee of the International Myeloma Working Group. He has served as the principal investigator of several international clinical trials evaluating new drugs and new immunotherapies. Prof Moreau was a member of the organizing committee for the 2011 International Myeloma Workshop in Paris and chairman of the French cooperative group Intergroupe Francophone du Myélome from 2006 to 2009 and from 2020 to 2023.

Prof Moreau’s research is widely published in more than 600 peer-reviewed articles and reviews that have appeared in high-impact-factor journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, and Blood. He is a frequently invited speaker at international hematologic oncology meetings and educational sessions on multiple myeloma by the American Society of Hematologyat ASH, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and European Hematology Association. In 2018, Prof Moreau received the Robert A. Kyle Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the research and treatment of multiple myeloma. He is a member of Academia Europaea.

Prof Hermann Einsele is full professor of internal medicine and has been director of the Department of Internal Medicine II at the University Hospital Würzburg, Germany, since 2004. Following his medical training at the Universities of Tübingen, Manchester, and London, he became a research fellow in the Department of Haematology, Oncology, Rheumatology, and Immunology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Prof Einsele was board certified in internal medicine in 1991 and in hematology and oncology in 1996. In 1999, he was promoted as an associate professor. He was visiting professor at City of Hope, Duarte, CA, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. From 2011–2015 and since 2022, he has been vice dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Würzburg, and from 2015–2021, vice president of the University of Würzburg.

Prof Einsele is an expert in the field of multiple myeloma, with a focus on chimeric antigen T cells, bispecific antibodies, adoptive immunotherapy, and stem cell transplantation. In 2003, he received the van Bekkum Award, the highest annual European award for research in the field of stem cell transplantation. In 2011, he was elected as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, and in 2012, as the Nobel Lecturer for Stem Cell Biology and Transplantation at the Nobel Forum Karolinska Institute. Since 2014, he has been a member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz, and has been recognized as an Institute for Scientific Information Highly Cited Researcher in the category of Clinical Medicine since 2017. In 2022, Prof Einsele received the Erasmus Hematology Award from the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the Bavarian Constitutional Medal. In 2023, he received the Emil von Behring Prize from the German Society for Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology (DGTI). Since 2018, Prof Einsele has been chair of the scientific working group on immunotherapy for hematologic malignancies of the European Hematology Association, and he has been a member of the Academia Europaea since November 2023. In 2024, he was awarded the Ken Anderson Basic and Translational Research Award from the International Myeloma Society, and in 2025, the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

María-Victoria Mateos, MD, PhD, is a consultant physician in the Hematology Department and associate professor of medicine at the University of Salamanca, Spain. She is director of the myeloma program and coordinates the clinical trials unit in Salamanca’s University Hospital Hematology Department. She received her medical degree from the University of Valladolid in Spain, and completed a residency in hematology at the University Hospital of Salamanca, where she also completed a doctoral degree.

Dr Mateos serves as coordinator of the Spanish Myeloma Group, with direct involvement in the design and development of clinical trials. She has coordinated many clinical studies, especially in the smoldering myeloma setting, and these trials have profoundly influenced current options for the management of these patient populations.

Dr Mateos is a member of the International Myeloma Working Group, the International Myeloma Society (IMS), the European Hematology Association (EHA), and the American Society of Hematology (ASH). Among her invited presentations, she has contributed to the educational sessions of EHA 2012, ASH 2013, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2015, EHA 2016, and ASCO and ASH 2017. She served on the ASH Scientific Committee on plasma cell diseases from 2015–2019 and on EHA’s Scientific Program Committee and Advisory Board from 2013–2020, and was chair of the Scientific Program Committee in 2019. She was a councilor on the EHA Board from 2015–2020, a member of the Steering Committee for the Society of Hematologic Oncology, a member of the IMS board, and a member of the European School of Haematology Scientific Committee. She received the Brian G.M. Durie Award in 2019 recognizing excellence in myeloma research. Dr Mateos has published over 250 original papers in international journals.