Laia Alemany Vilches

Head PREC, UNIC-EMG

Laia Alemany Vilches

Laia Alemany holds a Medicine degree (University of Barcelona-UB, 2000), a speciality in Preventive Medicine and Public Health (Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, 2005), a Master in Epidemiology and Public Health (Pompeu Fabra University-UPF, 2005), and a Master in Molecular Oncology (Spanish National Cancer Research Center-CNIO, 2017).

After her training at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in preventive medicine, in 2005 she received a fellowship from the Spanish Association of Vaccines-AEV to perform a half-year stay at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Argentina working on surveillance of immunopreventable diseases. After that, in 2006 she joined the Consorci d’Atenció Primària de Salut Barcelona Esquerra, where her main task was giving support to research, educational and management activities.

In 2007, she joined the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program (PREC) of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO/IDIBELL), where she carried out her research into the causal relationship of the human papilloma virus (HPV) and anogenital and head and neck cancers. Her main activity was the coordination and participation in research activities within an international study on HPV and related cancers, involving more than 20,000 cancer samples recruited and analysed.

Based on this project, in 2016 she obtained her PhD with the thesis entitled "Human Papillomavirus DNA Prevalence and Type-Specific Distribution in Invasive Cancers of the Cervix, Vulva, Vagina, Anus, Penis and Head-Neck", which was awarded by the University of Barcelona and the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain. As part of her PhD program, in 2013 she stayed 3 months at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg) supported by a scholarship from the Spanish Association Against Cancer-AECC.

Since 2016 she is Head of the Unit of Molecular Epidemiology and Genetics in Infections and Cancer (UNIC EMG) and in 2018 she became Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme (PREC) and Research Team Head in CIBERESP (Institute of Health Carlos III-ISCIII), a network of multidisciplinary research teams from different institutions and universities working in epidemiology and public health.

Her current research topic is on endometrial and ovarian cancer prevention, anal cancer prevention; and particularly, the natural history from oral HPV infection to head and neck cancers, with a special focus on epidemiology and prevention.

ResearcherID: G-9643-2015
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0945-6015
Email: lalemany@iconcologia.net


SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Mena M, Taberna M, Monfil L, (…) Alemany L*, Bruni L*. Might Oral Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection in Healthy Individuals Explain Differences in HPV-Attributable Fractions in Oropharyngeal Cancer? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Infect Dis. 2019 Apr 19;219(10):1574-1585. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy715
*co-senior author

de Sanjosé S, Serrano B, Tous S, (…) Alemany L; RIS HPV TT, VVAP and Head and Neck study groups. Burden of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-Related Cancers Attributable to HPVs 6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52 and 58. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2019 Jan 7;2(4):pky045. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pky045

Mena M, Taberna M, Tous S, (…) Alemany L. Double positivity for HPV-DNA/p16(ink4a) is the biomarker with strongest diagnostic accuracy and prognostic value for human papillomavirus related oropharyngeal cancer patients. Oral Oncol. 2018 Mar;78:137-144. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2018.01.010

Taberna M, Mena M, Pavón MA, Alemany L*, Gillison ML*, Mesía R*. Human papillomavirus-related oropharyngeal cancer. Ann Oncol. 2017 Oct 1;28(10):2386-2398. Review. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdx304
*co-senior author

Castellsagué X*, Alemany L*, Quer M, et al. HPV Involvement in Head and Neck Cancers: Comprehensive Assessment of Biomarkers in 3680 Patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2016 Jan 28;108(6):djv403. Print 2016 Jun. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djv403
*co-first author

Alemany L, Cubilla A, Halec G, et al. Role of Human Papillomavirus in Penile Carcinomas Worldwide. Eur Urol. 2016 May;69(5):953-61. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2015.12.007

Ndiaye C, Mena M, Alemany L, et al. HPV DNA, E6/E7 mRNA, and p16INK4a detection in head and neck cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2014 Nov;15(12):1319-31. Erratum in: Lancet Oncol. 2015 Jun;16(6):e262. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(14)70471-1

Alemany L, Saunier M, Tinoco L, et al. Large contribution of human papillomavirus in vaginal neoplastic lesions: a worldwide study in 597 samples. Eur J Cancer. 2014 Nov;50(16):2846-54. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2014.07.018

Alemany L, Saunier M, Alvarado-Cabrero I, et al. Human papillomavirus DNA prevalence and type distribution in anal carcinomas worldwide. Int J Cancer. 2015 Jan 1;136(1):98-107. doi: 10.1002/ijc.28963

Alemany L, de Sanjosé S, Tous S, et al. Time trends of human papillomavirus types in invasive cervical cancer, from 1940 to 2007. Int J Cancer. 2014 Jul 1;135(1):88-95. doi: 10.1002/ijc.28636