ANA OAKNIN

Biography

Dr. Ana Oaknin is the Head of the Gynaecological Tumour Unit and Clinical Investigator of the Gynaecological Cancer Research programme at the Vall d’Hebrón Institute of Oncology in Barcelona. She also leads the Gynaecological Cancer programme at the Barcelona Oncology Institute, one of the most active in Spain and one of the most renowned in Europe.
She works to make progress in improving the quality of life of patients. She was the only European researcher involved in the development of a new treatment for Cervical Cancer based on the use of Bevacizumab, in addition to standard chemotherapy in metastatic patients. The new treatment has given a greater chance of survival to metastatic patients due to the fact that the clinical trial reveals a 30% decrease in mortality. The results of the clinical trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The main areas where she focuses her research are Angionesis, DNA Repair Mechanisms and Immunology. For example, she has been involved as a principal investigator in the AURELIA Study, which led to the approval of Bevacizumab in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. She has also participated in the main clinical trials that have developed the new compounds called PARP inhibitors, such as Rucaparib and Olaparib, for patients with ovarian cancer associated with BRCA mutations. She is involved in more than 30 projects on Gynaecological Tumours, including studies from phase I to phase IIII. She expects to have at least two to three new indications in the next 5 years in the field of Gynaecological Tumours.
She is an active member of the Spanish, European and American Medical Oncology Societies (SEOM, ESMO, ASCO). She is vice president of the GEICO Group (Spanish Ovarian Cancer Research Group), the Spanish Representative of the Gynaecological Oncology Group (GOG) and the Spanish representative in the Cervical Committee of the GCIG Group. GOG is a non-profit organisation based in Houston that works with the purpose of promoting excellence in the quality and integrity of clinical and transnational research in the field of gynaecological neoplasms.
Dr. Oaknin completed her degree in Medicine and Surgery at the Complutense University of Madrid in 1994. She graduated as Specialist in Medical Oncology at the La Princesa University Hospital in Madrid in 2000 and she has a PhD (”. Project Title: “Oncogenic Mutations in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer: Prognostic and Potentially Therapeutic Implications )at the Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona She has spent a few years in the United States, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Centre in NYC, and at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston. She is also the author of over 65 publications and presentations at congresses. Additionally, she is a renowned speaker in prestigious educational symposia.