José Alberto
Orfao de Matos Correia e Vale

Alberto Orfao is Full Professor of Immunology at the Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca (USAL), Subdirector of the Cancer Research Centre, Director of Cytometry and Cell-sorting Services at USAL, and Scientific Director of the Spanish National DNA Bank Carlos III and the Network of Tumour Biobanks of Castilla y León (JCYL-Spain). As PI of a Consolidated Research Unit recognized by the JCYL (UIC151) at the Cancer Research Centre and IBSAL (ISCIII), his research focuses on hematological malignancies and the interplay between the immune system and cancer. He has supervised 56 PhD students (22 in 2015–2025) and co-authored 1289 publications, including 850 in international journals, with an h-index of 107 and over 69,000 citations. He holds 78 patents (granted/pending). Several contributions have translated into technological advances and tools adopted in routine diagnostics and the creation of biotech companies: Cytognos (1997), ImmunoStep (2001), PhagoTrace (2010) and 300K Biotech Solutions (2019). His work includes: 1) sensitive diagnostic approaches for B-cell malignancies; 2) tools for diagnosis and classification of leukemia, lymphoma, mastocytosis, and PID, including AI/big data methods; 3) reference methods for minimal disease monitoring in acute leukemias and myeloma; 4) prognostic stratification systems; 5) first description of diagnostic entities such as blastic dendritic cell neoplasm, well-differentiated systemic mastocytosis, mixed phenotype acute leukemias, bone marrow mastocytosis; 6) identification of molecular markers and pathways in oncogenesis of acute leukemias, B cell neoplasms, multiple myeloma, and mastocytosis; 7) novel immunotherapies; 8) participation in international consortia (1000 Genomes, COVID Scourge Consortium). Since 2020, he has published 193 papers in high-impact journals and received over 41 awards, including the Berend Howen award (ISLH), Wallace Coulter award (ISCC), Castilla y León Prize for Scientific and Technical Research (2012), 3rd Prize in Applied Biomedical Research (Valdés-Salas Foundation), Doctor “Honoris Causa” University of Katowice (2023), and EHA Research Excellence Award (2025). In 2025, he was elected Full Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Salamanca. He serves on external scientific committees in Spain and Europe, including the General Council of the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and participates in national and international evaluation panels: EuroFlow Consortium (chair), ESLHO, WHO, European Leukemia Net (ELN), ECRIN-M3, Idial-NET. He is also/has been member of editorial boards of multiple scientific journals.