Marco Merlano

Dr. Marco Merlano is a consultant of the Scientific Direction at the Candiolo Cancer Center (FPO-IRCCS) and a member of the multidisciplinary team for head and neck cancers at the same institute. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Genoa and completed his fellowship in Medical Oncology there.

Dr. Merlano has a wealth of experience in medical oncology, having served as assistant at the medical oncology unit at the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genoa, where he worked specifically on head and neck cancer. He then worked as a Visiting Scientist at the radiobiology lab at the University of Virginia Medical Centre, researching the preclinical background of the combination of drugs and radiation.

In Italy, Dr. Merlano has held several important positions, including Deputy Head of the High Dose Chemotherapy Unit and Chief of the Division of Medical Oncology at the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genoa. He also was chief of the Division of Medical Oncology, Head of the Dept of clinical oncology, and still run the translational Oncology Laboratory at the Azienda Ospedaliera S.Croce e Carle in Cuneo.

In addition, he has also been active in teaching, holding positions in postgraduate schools of Medical Oncology at the University of Genoa and the University of Turin.

Dr. Merlano is an active member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), was member of the ESMO faculty for head and neck cancer and coordinator of the same faculty (2012-2016).
He was also member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), is member of the Italian Society for Medical Oncology (AIOM) and honorary member of the New England Cancer Society. He is vice-president of the Gruppo Oncologico Nord-Ovest (GONO).
Dr. Merlano is invited speakers in many outstanding international conferences such as ESMO, ICHNO, THNO.
Dr. Merlano received research funds from public (National Research Council – Rome) and non-profit institutions (AIRC – Milan, S. Paolo Foundation – Turin, RoFar Foundation – Zurich, CRC Foundation – Cuneo).
He Authored or Co-Authored more than 220 international scientific papers, the majority being devoted to head and neck cancers, and, in particular, chemo- or bio-radiation in head and neck cancers or translational research.
He presently chairs or co-chairs randomized national clinical trials on Head and neck cancer in bio-chemotherapy and chemo-radiation. He also developed, and chairs, a program for melanoma screening, based on specific circulating mRNA expression.
His active fields of pre-clinical investigations include areas related to head and neck cancer, (such as hypoxia and HPV), noncoding RNA, immune oncology (in particular ADCC).