After the abdication of the Directors of the Research Foundation, Dr. Andrés Cervantes has been appointed Director of INCLIVA, after being approved by the Board of Trustees chaired by the Honorable Consellera of Sanitat Universal i Salut Publica, Carmen Montón. In addition, he has also assumed the functions of Scientific Director.

Dr. Cervantes was from the origins of the institution in the year 2000. His research group in colorectal cancer and new therapeutic developments in solid tumors was one of the first to be officially ascribed to the Foundation. He then took the management of the oncology area of INCLIVA in order to contribute to the study of different aspects of oncological diseases, both in the diagnostic phase and molecular characterization, and in the selection of specific molecular targets of therapeutic interest.

This important section of the Foundation, made up of several researchers and groups from the Universidad de Valencia and the Hospital Clinico de Valencia, is part of the flagship of INCLIVA being one of the most prolific areas in both publications and impact factor, as well as trials clinics and projects.

Since 2014, and through recommendations from the External Scientific Committee, it was decided to focus the new strategic plan of the Foundation towards translational research, creating the transversal program of the oncology line called Identification of oncogenic biomarkers: mechanisms and clinical implications, detection in Non-invasive samples, omic analyzes, whose direction was also assumed by Dr. Cervantes along with Dr. Ana Lluch. This program integrates both oncology groups of the Foundation and other areas, as well as external groups, all with the mission of contributing to cancer research through the routine implementation of personalized or precision medicine.

On the other hand, Dr. Cervantes not only contributed to the scientific guidelines of the Research Institute, but also created in 2004 the Phase I Cancer Trials Unit of the Hospital Clínico de Valencia, a pioneer in Spain. The effectiveness of a drug in the treatment of cancer is first tested in humans for the first time in clinical trials. The unit has been constituted as an international reference and collaborates with leading hospitals and leading pharmaceutical companies and is headquartered in the same building INCLIVA. It has a fully equipped room for treatments in Phase I, medical consultations, several offices for administrative management work and a specific room for the manipulation of blood samples.

For all the contributions to the Foundation and the great involvement of Dr. Cervantes, who assumed the leadership of the sixth most important research center in Spain and first of the Valencian Community, was the next step to follow in his great professional career.