Maria Cristina Díaz de Heredia Rubio

I am a pediatrician specialized in pediatric hematology and oncology and in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. My clinical and research activity focuses on blood disorders, leukemias, and other non-oncological hematological diseases, as well as on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children. Since 2005, I am the Head of the Pediatric Hematology Section and I lead the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Advanced Therapies Program within the Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology. I am committed to bringing the most innovative treatments to our patients. At the national level, I lead the pediatric group of the Spanish Group for Hematopoietic Transplantation (GETH) and the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation group of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (SEHOP), with the aim of improving the clinical outcomes of this procedure in children and adolescents. I am an active member of the board of the European pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation group of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), and I actively participate in the SEHOP bone marrow failure working group. My commitment and dedication to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and bone marrow failure syndromes have made me a national reference in these fields. In terms of research, I am a member of the “Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders” group at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and I lead the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Advanced Therapies Program within this group. I am the national coordinator of the international clinical trial ALL-SCT FORUM, with the objective to identify the optimal transplantation strategy in children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In the field of advanced cellular therapies, I work on several innovative projects in gene therapy for congenital diseases, as well as on the use of mesenchymal cells and antigen-specific cytotoxic lymphocytes for the treatment of certain post-transplant complications.

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