Nationality
Spain
Education
- MD, ‘Autonoma de Madrid’ University, 2004.
- Neurology Residency, ‘Hospital 12 de Octubre’, Madrid, 2009.
- PGCer in Clinical Genetics, ‘Alcala de Henares’ University, 2010.
- MSc, Research Methodology, ‘Autonoma de Barcelona’ University, 2014.
Projects
Team Leuko+
Team Colo+
Team neuroQWERTY+
Media
Álvaro Sánchez-Ferro earned an MD from the “Autonoma de Madrid” University in 2004, and specialized in neurology at the ‘12 de Octubre’ Hospital of Madrid in 2009. He became interested in neurodegeneration while studying the genetic evaluation of Parkinson’s disease under Dr. Thomas Gasser’s supervision at Hertie Institut (Tübingen, Germany).
The Spanish Research Agency (ISCiii) granted him a “Rio Hortega” fellowship, which allowed him to complete his training under the mentorship of Dr. Bermejo-Pareja. During this 3-year program, he researched the pathophysiology of the peripheral impairment of Parkinson ́s disease and the epidemiology of dementia. He collaborated with ‘Fundacion CIEN’ (Madrid) on a project aimed to define the neuroanatomical basis of tremor through MRI. More recently, he enjoyed a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, USA) in Dr. Gómez-Isla ́s group, where he cooperated on the development of a diagnostic tool based on an eye tracking system aimed to detect presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.
Although Álvaro, a medical doctor, enjoyed patient care, he was drawn to the M+Visión Fellowship after seeing “an opportunity to try to have impact on healthcare and have things change.” He has already zeroed in on an important social need for earlier detection and therapies for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinsons’ and Alzheimers.
Along with collaborators, he is trying to identify opportunities and thinks “we have found some gaps where technology could really help.”