Alex Herrera, M.D.
Hematologist-Oncologist
4.9 (129 RATINGS)
Clinical Expertise
- Lymphoma
- Immunotherapy
- Stem Cell Transplant
Research Area
- Immunotherapy and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Lymphoma
- Hodgkin Lymphoma
- Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
- Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
Academic Appointments
- Chief, Division of Lymphoma, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
- Associate Medical Director of the Briskin Center for Clinical Research
- Professor, Division of Lymphoma, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
Clinical Teams
Lymphoma
Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
Alex Herrera, M.D., earned his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Princeton University and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Herrera completed his residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, before pursuing a hematology-oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Herrera's clinical and research interests center on immunotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with lymphoma. He is the principal investigator of over 40 clinical trials evaluating novel agents for the treatment of Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphomas, including 17 investigator-initiated trials. He also studies biomarkers of response and outcome in patients with lymphoma treated with immunotherapies or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with the goal of designing biomarker-based clinical trials to improve outcomes and personalize lymphoma treatment.
Dr. Herrera is the recipient of several honors, grants and awards, including the Toni and Emmet Stephenson Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar in Clinical Research Award, V Foundation Clinical Scholar Program Award, American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation/Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation George Santos Award for Best Clinical Science Article by a New Investigator, American Society of Clinical Oncology/Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, City of Hope K12 Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology, and the Lymphoma Research Foundation Larry and Denise Mason Clinical Investigator Career Development Award. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and has been invited to present his work nationally and internationally. Dr. Herrera is a member of several national and international guidelines committees including the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Hodgkin Lymphoma, the Southwest Oncology Group ;Lymphoma Committee Working Group, the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) Committee on Practice Guidelines, and he is a co-chair of the CIBMTR Lymphoma Working Committee.
Location
Duarte Cancer Center
1500 East Duarte Road
Duarte, CA 91010
Duarte, CA 91010
Education & Experience
Board Certifications
- American Board of Internal Medicine, Hematology
- American Board of Internal Medicine, Oncology
Degrees
- 2009, M.D., Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- 2003, A.B. History, Summa Cum Laude, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Fellowship
- 2014–2015, Bone Marrow Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- 2012–2014, Hematology-Oncology Fellowship, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Residency
- 2009–2012, Internal Medicine Internship and Residency, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
Professional Experience
- 2023–present, Chief, Division of Lymphoma, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- 2025–present, Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- 2021–2025, Associate Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- 2015–2021, Assistant Professor, Division of Lymphoma, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- 2014–2015, Instructor, City of Hope, Bone Marrow Transplantation Fellowship, Duarte, CA
Awards & Memberships
Awards
- 2022, City of Hope Arti Hurria Clinical Mentoring Award
- 2022, James O. Armitage Lymphoma Clinical Investigator Award
- 2021, V Foundation Clinical Scholar Program Award
- 2019, Emmet and Toni Stephenson Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar in Clinical Research Award
- 2018, STOP Cancer Wiviott Wish Family Seed Grant
- 2018–2020, Gilead Sciences Research Scholars Program in Hematology/Oncology
- 2017–2020, Lymphoma Research Foundation Larry and Denise Mason Clinical Investigator Career Development Award
- 2017–2018, SWOG Integrated Translational Science Center Pilot Award
- 2016–2017, City of Hope Hematologic Malignancies Institute Pilot Project Award
- 2016–present, National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program (renewed)
- 2016, SWOG/The Jackson Laboratory/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory NCI Integrated Translational Science Center Workshop
- 2016–2017, City of Hope Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center Pilot Grant
- 2016–2017, Lymphoma Research Foundation Clinical Research Mentoring Program
- 2016–2017 City of Hope Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center Pilot Grant
- 2016–2017 Lymphoma Research Foundation Clinical Research Mentoring Program
- 2015, City of Hope K12 City of Hope Clinical Oncology Career Research Development Program Recipient
- 2015, City of Hope SPORE in Lymphoma Cancer Project Career Enhancement Award Recipient
- 2015, American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation/Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation George Santos Award for Best Clinical Science Article by a New Investigator
- 2014–2015, American Society of Hematology Clinical Research Training Institute
- 2014, American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting Abstract Achievement Award
- 2014, American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation Clinical Research Training Course
- 2014, American Society of Clinical Oncology/Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award
- 2014, American Society of Hematology Research Training Award for Fellows Finalist (Withdrawn from consideration after receipt of ASCO/CCF YIA
- 2013, American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting Abstract Achievement Award
- 2007–2008, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation International Clinical Research Fellowship
- 2005, Harvard Medical School Paul Dudley White Traveling Fellowship
- 2003–2004, Princeton Project 55 Public Interest Program Fellowship
Memberships
- 2015–present, Member, Southwest Oncology Group
- 2013–present, American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation
- 2013–present, American Society of Hematology
- 2013–present, American Society of Clinical Oncology
- 2013–present, American Association for Cancer Research
Publications
- Godfrey J, Mei M, Chen L, Song JY, Bedell V, Budde E, Armenian S, Puverel S, Nikolaenko L, Chen R, Daniels S, Kennedy N, Peters L, Rosen ST, Forman SJ, Popplewell LL, Kwak LW, Herrera AF†. Results from a phase I trial of pembrolizumab plus vorinostat in relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Haematologica. 2023 Jul 20. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2023.283002. Online ahead of print. PMID: 37470137 † Corresponding author
- Mei MG, Chen L, Godfrey J, Song JY, Egelston C, Budde LE, Armenian SH, Nikolaenko L, Nwangwu M, Guo W, Gao L, Lee P, Chen RW, Daniels S, Kennedy N, Peters L, Zain J, Rosen ST, Forman SJ, Popplewell L, Kwak LW, Herrera AF†. Pembrolizumab plus vorinostat is highly active in Hodgkin lymphoma, including patients refractory to prior PD-1 blockade. Blood. 2023 Jun 20:blood.2023020485. doi: 10.1182/blood.2023020485. Online ahead of print. PMID: 37339586 † Corresponding author
- Song JY, Nwangwu M, He TF, Zhang W, Meawad H, Bedell V, Murata-Collins J, Skrabek P, Nasr MR, Scott D, Godfrey J, Lee P, Chan WC, Weisenburger DD, Perry AM, Herrera AF. Low T-cell proportion in the tumor microenvironment is associated with immune escape and poor survival in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Haematologica. 2023 Jan 12. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2022.282265. Online ahead of print. PMID: 36632739
- Herrera AF, Chen L, Nieto Y, Holmberg L, Johnston P, Mei M, Popplewell L, Armenian S, Cao T, Farol L, Sahebi F, Spielberger R, Chen R, Nademanee A, Puverel S, Nwangwu M, Lee P, Song J, Skarbnik A, Kennedy N, Peters L, Rosen ST, Kwak LW, Forman SJ, Feldman T. Nivolumab and Brentuximab Vedotin After Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation for High-Risk Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma: a Multicentre, Phase 2 Trial. Lancet Haematol. 2023 Jan;10(1):e14-e23. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(22)00318-0. Epub 2022 Nov 17. PMID: 36403579
- Merryman RW, Redd RA, Taranto E, Ahmed G, Jeter E, McHugh KM, Brown JR, Crombie JL, Davids MS, Fisher DC, Freedman AS, Jacobsen ED, Jacobson CA, Kim AI, LaCasce AS, Ng SY, Odejide OO, Parry EM, Jacene H, Park H, Dahi PB, Nieto Y, Joyce R, Chen YB, Shipp MA, Herrera AF#, Armand P. Minimal residual disease in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation. Blood Adv. 2022 Nov 18:bloodadvances.2022007706. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2022007706. Online ahead of print. PMID: 36399518 #: co-senior author
- Zurko J, Ramdial J, Shadman M, Ahmed S, Szabo A, Iovino L, Tomas AA, Sauter C, Perales MA, Shah NN, Acharya UH, Jacobson C, Soiffer RJ, Wang T, Komanduri KV, Jaglowski S, Kittai AS, Denlinger N, Iqbal M, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Ayala E, Chavez J, Jain M, Locke FL, Samara Y, Budde LE, Mei MG, Pia AD, Feldman T, Ahmed N, Jacobs R, Ghosh N, Dholaria B, Oluwole OO, Hess B, Hassan A, Kenkre VP, Reagan P, Awan F, Nieto Y, Hamadani M, Herrera AF†. Allogeneic transplant following CAR T-cell therapy for large B-cell lymphoma. Haematologica. 2022 Jul 14. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2022.281242. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35833303 †corresponding author
- Kambhampati S, Mei MG, Godfrey J, Siddiqi T, Salhotra A, Chen R, Smith E, Popplewell LL, Herrera AF†. PD-1 Blockade After Avelumab in Relapsed/Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2022 Jun 6:S2152-2650(22)00185-9. doi: 10.1016/j.clml.2022.06.004. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35778267 †corresponding author
- Mei MG, Lee HJ, Palmer J, Chen RW, Tsai NC, Chen L, McBride K, Smith DL, Melgar I, Song JY, Bonjoc KC, Armenian S, Nwangwu M, Lee P, Zain J, Nikolaenko L, Popplewell L, Nademanee A, Chaudhry AA, Rosen ST, Kwak LW, Forman SJ, Herrera AF†. Response-adapted anti-PD1 based salvage therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma with nivolumab +/- ICE (NICE). Blood. 2022 Mar 22:blood.2022015423. doi: 10.1182/blood.2022015423. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35316328 † Corresponding author
- Herrera AF, Tracy S, Croft B, Opat SS, Ray J, Lovejoy AF, Musick L, Paulson JN, Sehn LH, Jiang Y. Risk profiling of patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by measuring circulating tumor DNA. Blood Adv. 2022 Jan 27:bloodadvances.2021006415. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021006415. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35086141
- Herrera AF, Patel MR, Burke JM, Advani R, Cheson BD, Sharman JP, Penuel E, Polson AG, Liao CD, Li C, Schuth E, Vaze A, Samineni D, Elstrom R, Cooper J, Diefenbach C. Anti-CD79B Antibody-Drug Conjugate DCDS0780A in Patients with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Phase 1 Dose-Escalation Study. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Jan 3:clincanres.3261.2021. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-21-3261. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34980599
- Herrera AF, Palmer JM, Adhikarla V, Yamauchi DM, Poku EK, Bading J, Yazaki P, Dandapani S, Mei MG, Chen RW, Cao T, Karras NA, McTague P, Nademanee A, Popplewell L, Sahebi F, Shively JE, Simpson JR, Smith DL, Song J, Spielberger R, Tsai NC, Thomas SH, Forman SJ, Colcher D, Wu AM, Wong JY, Smith EP. Anti-CD25 Radioimmunotherapy with BEAM Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Conditioning in Hodgkin Lymphoma. Blood Adv. 2021 Oct 12:bloodadvances.2021004981. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021004981. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34638132
- Herrera AF, Ahn KW, Litovich CA, Chen Y, Assal A, Bashir Q, Bayer RL, Coleman M, DeFilipp Z, Farhadfar N, Greenwood M, Hahn T, Horwitz ME, Jacobson CA, Jaglowski SM, Lachance S, Langston A, Mattar B, Maziarz RT, McGuirk JP, Mian M, Nathan S, Phillips AA, Rakszawski K, Sengeloev H, Shenoy S, Stuart RK, Sauter CS, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Hamadani M. Autologous and Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma-Type Richter Syndrome. Blood Advances. 2021 Sep 8:bloodadvances.2021004865. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021004865. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34496026
- Herrera AF, Burton C, Radford J, Miall F, Townsend W, Santoro A, Zinzani PL, Lewis D, Fowst C, Brar S, Huang B, Thall A, Collins GP. Avelumab in relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma: phase 1b results from the JAVELIN Hodgkins trial. Blood Advances. 2021 Sep 14;5(17):3387-3396. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021004511. PMID: 34477818
- Epperla N and Herrera AF†. How we incorporate novel agents into the treatment of classic Hodgkin lymphoma. Blood. 2021 Apr 22:blood.2020007900. doi: 10.1182/blood.2020007900. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33889927 † Corresponding author Advani R, Moskowitz AJ, Bartlett NL, Vose J, Ramchandren R, Feldman T, LaCasce AS, Christian B, Ansell SM, Moskowitz CH, Brown L, Zhang C, Taft D, Ansari S, Sacchi M, Ho L, Herrera AF. Brentuximab vedotin in combination with nivolumab in relapsed or refractory
- Advani R, Moskowitz AJ, Bartlett NL, Vose J, Ramchandren R, Feldman T, LaCasce AS, Christian B, Ansell SM, Moskowitz CH, Brown L, Zhang C, Taft D, Ansari S, Sacchi M, Ho L, Herrera AF. Brentuximab vedotin in combination with nivolumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: 3-year study results. Blood. Blood. 2021 Apr 7:blood.2020009178. doi: 10.1182/blood.2020009178. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33827139
Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews below are gathered from the Press Ganey Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG CAHPS) survey. CG CAHPS is a standardized survey that is used to measure a patient's experience in the physician office setting. Ratings are an average of all responses to questions about a provider's care, with five stars being the highest.
4.9
Recommend this provider office
4.9
Provider explain in way you understand
4.9
Provider listen carefully to you
4.9
Know important info medical history
4.9
Show respect for what you say
4.9
Rate provider 0-10
4.8
Spend enough time with you
04/24/25
So kind; like a balm to my struggling heart - Verified patient
04/23/25
Dr H was very informative and caring about my future needs. I look forward to seeing him again soon. He was honest and a very caring Dr. - Verified patient
04/23/25
Good - Verified patient
04/23/25
Good - Verified patient
04/22/25
If it wasn't for Dr Herrera, I would have opted to have my treatment in [...]. But I was so comfortable with him, I drive every week to City Of Hope for treatment. - Verified patient