Originally from the small Northern coastal town of Gijón, Spain, Álvaro has had quite an international and multicultural upbringing. Spending much of his youth in Geneva, Switzerland before attaining his Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, in 2020, which included a short stay during the summer of 2019 in Paris, France. In 2020, he returned to Switzerland to complete his Master's degree in Biology, Majoring in Cell Biology, at ETH Zürich. He began his doctoral journey in 2023 at the Medical Oncology and Haematology department of the University Hospital Zurich, under the supervision of Dr. Corina Schneidawind. His research focuses on establishing patient-specific, modelling systems of “indefinite” in vitro growth, for aggressive acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemias to drive the push for the enhanced personalization of oncology. Outside of the academic field, Álvaro enjoys music, reading and writing, athletics, travelling and exploring the world and above all, spending quality time with family and friends.