Vall d'Hebron University Hospital / VHIO · Institution

VHIO (Tabernero, Cortés): leadership of DESTINY-Breast03/09, TROPION-Breast, colorectal (BEACON, BREAKWATER), and one of Europe's largest phase 1 units.

Location

Barcelona, ES

Type

cancer center

Website

vhio.net

Newsweek 2026 oncology rank

#28

OnCo score

#33 · 58 points (32 Newsweek + 0 NCI + 26 from 13 linked objects) · ranking

Programmes

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Breast ADC trials (Cortés)
Colorectal (Tabernero)
Phase 1

People

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Elena Élez

Head, Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumours Group, VHIO

Colorectal cancerBRAF and KRAS-mutant diseasePrecision oncology

Elena Élez is a colorectal cancer investigator who led the BREAKWATER trial's clinical programme.

Elena Garralda

Director, Early Drug Development Unit (UITM), VHIO

Phase 1 trialsImmuno-oncologyNovel modalities

Elena Garralda leads one of Europe's largest phase 1 units.

Enriqueta Felip

Head of Thoracic Cancers Unit, Vall d'Hebron; Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Lung cancerTargeted therapyPerioperative immunotherapy

Thoracic oncologist who led IMpower010, establishing adjuvant atezolizumab in lung cancer.

Javier Cortés

Head, International Breast Cancer Center (IBCC), Barcelona; formerly Vall d'Hebron

Breast cancerHER2-positive diseaseAntibody-drug conjugates

Breast oncologist who led DESTINY-Breast03 and DESTINY-Breast09, the trials that made Enhertu the HER2-positive standard.

Joaquín Arribas

Director, Hospital del Mar Research Institute; ICREA Professor; formerly VHIO

HER2 biologyResistance to anti-HER2 therapyT-cell bispecifics

Cancer biologist who characterised truncated HER2 (p95HER2) and develops p95HER2-targeted T-cell engagers.

Josep Tabernero

Director, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO); Head of Medical Oncology, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital

Colorectal cancerGastrointestinal oncologyEarly drug development

Colorectal cancer trialist who led BEACON and BREAKWATER, bringing targeted therapy to BRAF-mutant disease; former ESMO President.

Key papers

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rctNew England Journal of Medicine 2025changed practice

BREAKWATER: encorafenib plus cetuximab with chemotherapy as first treatment for BRAF V600E-mutated colorectal cancer

Patients with newly diagnosed metastatic colorectal cancer whose tumour carries a BRAF V600E mutation, which is about 8-12% of cases, should now be offered encorafenib and cetuximab together with FOLFOX from the start rather than after chemotherapy fails; median survival has roughly doubled to about two and a half years. BRAF testing at diagnosis is therefore essential, alongside RAS and mismatch repair testing. The regimen is more toxic than chemotherapy alone.