Alex Herrera, M.D.
American Board of Internal Medicine, Hematology
American Board of Internal Medicine, Oncology
2009, M.D., Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2003, A.B. History, Summa Cum Laude, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
2014-2015, Bone Marrow Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
2012-2014, Hematology-Oncology Fellowship, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
2009-2012, Internal Medicine Internship and Residency, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
2021-present, 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
The clinical and research interests of Alex Herrera, M.D., center on immunotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in lymphoma patients. Dr. Herrera is currently the principal investigator of a number of clinical trials evaluating immune checkpoint inhibitors and other novel agents for the treatment of relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) or Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and as consolidation following autologous stem cell transplantation for patients with NHL or HL, including his own investigator-initiated trials, collaborative multicenter investigator-initiated trials and sponsored multicenter trials.
As part of these efforts, Dr. Herrera studies biomarkers of response and outcomes in lymphoma patients treated with immunotherapies or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. His current research evaluates the impact of immunohistochemical and cytogenetic markers of prognosis in the setting of transplantation for lymphoma, as well as the use of sequencing-based minimal residual disease detection to predict relapse after autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation. The goal of these studies is to identify patients at high risk of relapse after transplantation, who may benefit from enrolling into rational prospective clinical trials using biomarker-based interventions to improve outcomes.
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
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
- 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
- Merryman RW, Redd R, Jeter E, Wong JL, McHugh K, Reynolds C, Nazzaro M, Varden A, Brown JR, Crombie JL, Davids MS, Fisher DC, Jacobsen E, Jacobson CA, Kim AI, LaCasce AS, Ng SY, Odejide OO, Parry EM, Dahi PB, Nieto Y, Joyce RM, Chen YB, Herrera AF, Armand P, Ritz J. Immune reconstitution following high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation with and without pembrolizumab maintenance therapy in patients with lymphoma. Transplant Cell Ther. 2021 Oct 17:S2666-6367(21)01301-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2021.10.010. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34670169
- Riedell PA, Hamadani M, Ahn KW, Litovich C, Brunstein CG, Cashen AF, Cohen JB, Epperla N, Hill BT, Im A, Inwards DJ, Lister J, McCarty JM, Ravi Kiran Pingali S, Shadman M, Shaughnessy P, Solh M, Stiff PJ, Vose JM, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Herrera AF, Sauter CS, Smith SM. Effect of time to relapse on overall survival in patients with mantle cell lymphoma following autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation. Br J Haematol. 2021 Sep 28. doi: 10.1111/bjh.17865. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34581433
- Dickinson M, Briones J, Herrera AF, Gonzalez-Barca E, Ghosh N, Cordoba R, Rutherford SC, Bournazou E, Labriola-Tompkins E, Franjkovic I, Chesne E, Brouwer-Visser J, Lechner K, Brennan B, Nüesch E, DeMario M, Rüttinger D, Kornacker M, Hutchings M. Phase Ib study of BET inhibitor RO6870810 with venetoclax and rituximab in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Blood Adv. 2021 Sep 28:bloodadvances.2021004619. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021004619. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34581757
- Shadman M, Pasquini MC, Ahn KW, Chen Y, Turtle CJ, Hematti P, Cohen JB, Khimani F, Ganguly S, Merryman RW, Yared JA, Locke FL, Ahmed N, Munshi P, Beitinjaneh A, Reagan P, Herrera AF, Sauter CS, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Hamadani M. Autologous Transplant versus Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy for Relapsed DLBCL in Partial Remission. Blood. 2021 Sep 27:blood.2021013289. doi: 10.1182/blood.2021013289. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34570879
- 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
- Crombie JL, Nastoupil LJ, Redd RA, Tang K, Shouse G, Herrera AF, Chow VA, Shadman M, Castaneda Puglianini O, Saucier A, Jacobson CA, Armand P, Simmons G. Real-world outcomes of axicabtagene ciloleucel in adult patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. Blood Adv. 2021 Sep 2:bloodadvances.2021004880. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021004880. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34474474
- 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
- Shouse G, Herrera AF. Advances in Immunotherapy for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma. BioDrugs. 2021 Jul 15. doi: 10.1007/s40259-021-00491-w. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34264504
- Munshi PN, Hamadani M, Kumar A, Dreger P, Friedberg JW, Dreyling M, Kahl B, Jerkeman M, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Locke FL, Shadman M, Hill BT, Ahmed S, Herrera AF, Sauter CS, Bachanova V, Ghosh N, Lunning M, Kenkre VP, Aljurf M, Wang M, Maddocks KJ, Leonard JP, Kamdar M, Phillips T, Cashen AF, Inwards DJ, Sureda A, Cohen JB, Smith SM, Carlo-Stella C, Savani B, Robinson SP, Fenske TS. American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Center of International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, and European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Clinical Practice Recommendations for Transplantation and Cellular Therapies in Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Transplant Cell Ther. 2021 Sep;27(9):720-728. doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2021.03.001. PMID: 34452722
- Riedell PA, Hamadani M, Ahn KW, Litovich C, Murthy GSG, Locke FL, Brunstein CG, Merryman RW, Stiff PJ, Pawarode A, Nishihori T, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Herrera AF, Sauter CS, Smith SM. Transplant Cell Ther. 2021 Aug 24:S2666-6367(21)01164-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2021.08.014. Online ahead of print. Outcomes and Utilization Trends of Front-Line Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Mantle Cell Lymphoma. PMID: 34450333
- Scordo M, Wang TP, Ahn KW, Chen Y, Ahmed S, Awan FT, Beitinjaneh A, Chen A, Chow VA, Dholaria B, Epperla N, Farooq U, Ghosh N, Grover N, Hamad N, Hildebrandt GC, Holmberg L, Hong S, Inwards DJ, Jimenez-Jimenez A, Karmali R, Kenkre VP, Khimani F, Klyuchnikov E, Krem MM, Munshi PN, Nieto Y, Prestidge T, Ramakrishnan Geethakumari P, Rezvani AR, Riedell PA, Seo S, Shah NN, Solh M, Yared JA, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Herrera A, Hamadani M, Sauter CS. Outcomes Associated With Thiotepa-Based Conditioning in Patients With Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma After Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplant. JAMA Oncol. 2021 May 6. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2021.1074. Online ahead of print.
- 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 Hodgkin lymphoma: 3-year study results. Blood. Blood. 2021 Apr 7:blood.2020009178. doi: 10.1182/blood.2020009178. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33827139
- Merryman RW, Redd RA, Nishihori T, Chavez J, Nieto Y, Darrah JM, Rao U, Byrne MT, Bond DA, Maddocks KJ, Spinner MA, Advani RH, Ballard HJ, Svoboda J, Singh AK, McGuirk JP, Modi D, Ramchandren R, Romancik J, Cohen JB, Frigault MJ, Chen YB, Serritella AV, Kline J, Ansell S, Nathan S, Rahimian M, Joyce RM, Shah M, David KA, Park S, Beaven AW, Habib A, Bachanova V, Nakhoda S, Khan N, Lynch RC, Smith SD, Ho VT, LaCasce A, Armand P, Herrera AF†. Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation After Anti-PD-1 Therapy for Multiply Relapsed or Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma. Blood Adv. 2021 Mar 23;5(6):1648-1659. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2020003556. PMID: 33710337. † Corresponding author
- Merryman RW, Castagna L, Giordano L, Ho VT, Corradini P, Guidetti A, Casadei B, Bond DA, Jaglowski S, Spinner MA, Arai S, Lowsky R, Shah GL, Perales MA, De Colella JMS, Blaise D, Herrera AF, Shouse G, Spilleboudt C, Ansell SM, Nieto Y, Badar T, Hamadani M, Feldman TA, Dahncke L, Singh AK, McGuirk JP, Nishihori T, Chavez J, Serritella AV, Kline J, Mohty M, Dulery R, Stamatoulas A, Houot R, Manson G, Moles-Moreau MP, Orvain C, Bouabdallah K, Modi D, Ramchandren R, Lekakis L, Beitinjaneh A, Frigault MJ, Chen YB, Lynch RC, Smith SD, Rao U, Byrne M, Romancik JT, Cohen JB, Nathan S, Phillips T, Joyce RM, Rahimian M, Bashey A, Ballard HJ, Svoboda J, Torri V, Sollini M, De Philippis C, Magagnoli M, Santoro A, Armand P, Zinzani PL, Carlo-Stella C. Allogeneic transplantation after PD-1 blockade for classic Hodgkin lymphoma. Leukemia. 2021 Mar 3. doi: 10.1038/s41375-021-01193-6. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33658659
- Nguyen H, Perry A, Skrabek P, Nasr M, Herrera AF, Bedell V, Murata-Collins J, Pillai R, Xu M, Chen L, Chan WC, Weisenburger DD, Scott DW, Song JY. Validation of the double-hit gene expression signature (DLBCL90) in an independent cohort of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of germinal center origin. J Mol Diagn. 2021 Feb 23:S1525-1578(21)00043-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2021.02.005. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33636392
- Othman T, Herrera A, Mei M. Emerging Therapies in Relapsed and Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma: What Comes Next After Brentuximab Vedotin and PD-1 Inhibition? Curr Hematol Malig Rep. 2021 Jan 6. doi: 10.1007/s11899-020-00603-3. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33409966
- Smith SD, Lopedote P, Samara Y, Mei M, Herrera AF, Winter AM, Hill BT, Shadman M, Ujjani C, Lynch RC, Jacobson CA, Kim AI, Caimi P, Milano F, Gopal AK. Polatuzumab Vedotin for Relapsed/Refractory Aggressive B-cell Lymphoma: A Multicenter Post-marketing Analysis. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2020 Dec 18:S2152-2650(20)31019-3. doi: 10.1016/j.clml.2020.12.013. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33431309
- Song JY, Perry AM, Herrera AF, Chen L, Skrabek P, Nasr M, Ottesen R, Nikowitz J, Bedell V, Murata-Collins JL, Li Y, McCarthy C, Pillai RK, Wang J, Wu X, Popplewell L, Kwak LW, Nademanee A, Niland JC, Scott DW, Gong Q, Chan WC, Weisenburger D. Double-hit signature with TP53 abnormalities predicts poor survival in patients with germinal center type diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Jan 7:clincanres.2378.2020. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-2378. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33414134
- Bartlett NL, Herrera AF, Domingo-Domenech E, Mehta A, Forero-Torres A, Garcia-Sanz R, Armand P, Devata S, Rodriguez Izquierdo A, Lossos IS, Reeder C, Sher T, Chen R, Schwarz S, Alland L, Strassz A, Prier K, Choe-Juliak C, Ansell SM. A phase 1b study of AFM13 in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma. Blood. 2020 Jul 30:blood.2019004701. doi: 10.1182/blood.2019004701. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32730586
- Carreau NA, Pail O, Armand P, Merryman R, Advani RH, Spinner MA, Herrera A, Chen R, Tomassetti S, Ramchandren R, Hamid MS, Assouline S, Santiago R, Wagner-Johnston N, Paul S, Svoboda J, Bair S, Barta S, Liu Y, Nathan S, Karmali R, Burkart M, Torka P, David K, Wei C, Lansigan F, Emery L, Persky D, Smith S, Godfrey J, Chavez J, Xia Y, Troxel AB, Diefenbach C. Checkpoint Blockade Treatment May Sensitize Hodgkin Lymphoma to Subsequent Therapy. Oncologist. 2020 Jul 28. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2020-0167. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32720734
- Jacobson CA, Hunter BD, Redd R, Rodig SJ, Chen PH, Wright K, Lipschitz M, Ritz J, Kamihara Y, Armand P, Nikiforow S, Rogalski M, Maakaron J, Jaglowski S, Maus MV, Chen YB, Abramson JS, Kline J, Budde E, Herrera A, Mei M, Cohen JB, Smith SD, Maloney DG, Gopal AK, Frigault MJ, Acharya UH. Axicabtagene Ciloleucel in the Non-Trial Setting: Outcomes and Correlates of Response, Resistance, and Toxicity. J Clin Oncol. 2020 Jul 15:JCO1902103. doi: 10.1200/JCO.19.02103. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32667831
- Hoppe RT, Advani RH, Ai WZ, Ambinder RF, Armand P, Bello CM, Benitez CM, Bierman PJ, Boughan KM, Dabaja B, Gordon LI, Hernandez-Ilizaliturri FJ, Herrera AF, Hochberg EP, Huang J, Johnston PB, Kaminski MS, Kenkre VP, Khan N, Lynch RC, Maddocks K, McConathy J, McKinney M, Metzger M, Morgan D, Mulroney C, Rabinovitch R, Rosenspire KC, Seropian S, Tao R, Winter JN, Yahalom J, Burns JL, Ogba N. Hodgkin Lymphoma, Version 2.2020, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2020 Jun;18(6):755-781. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2020.0026. PMID: 32502987
- Davids MS, Kim HT, Costello C, Herrera AF, Locke FL, Maegawa RO, Savell A, Mazzeo M, Anderson A, Boardman AP, Weber A, Avigan D, Chen YB, Nikiforow S, Ho VT, Cutler C, Alyea E, Bachireddy P, Wu CJ, Ritz J, Streicher H, Ball ED, Bashey A, Soiffer RJ, Armand P. A Multicenter, Phase I Study of Nivolumab for Relapsed Hematologic Malignancies After Allogeneic Transplantation. Blood. 2020 Apr 24:blood.2019004710. doi: 10.1182/blood.2019004710. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32478814
- Carreau NA, Armand P, Merryman RW, Advani RH, Spinner MA, Herrera AF, Ramchandren R, Hamid MS, Assouline S, Santiago R, Wagner-Johnston N, Paul S, Svoboda J, Bair SM, Barta SK, Nathan S, Karmali R, Torka P, David K, Lansigan F, Persky D, Godfrey J, Chavez JC, Xia Y, Diefenbach C. Checkpoint Blockade Treatment Sensitises Relapsed/Refractory non-Hodgkin Lymphoma to Subsequent Therapy. Br J Haematol. 2020 May 19. doi: 10.1111/bjh.16756. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32430944
- Merryman RW, Carreau NA, Advani RH, Spinner MA, Herrera AF, Chen R, Tomassetti S, Ramchandren R, Hamid M, Assouline S, Santiago R, Nina Wagner-Johnston N, Paul S, Svoboda J, Bair SM, Barta SK, Liu Y, Nathan S, Karmali R, Burkart M, Torka P, David KA, Wei C, Lansigan F, Emery L, Persky D, Smith SM, Godfrey J, Chavez J, Cohen JB, Troxel AB, Diefenbach C, Armand P. Impact of Treatment Beyond Progression with Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Hodgkin Lymphoma. Oncologist. 2020 Apr 10. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2020-0040. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 32275786
- Armenian SH, Iukuridze A, Teh JB, Mascarenhas K, Herrera A, McCune JS, Zain JM, Mostoufi-Moab S, McCormack S, Slavin TP, Scott JM, Jones LW, Sun CL, Forman SJ, Wong FL, Nakamura R. Abnormal Body Composition Is a Predictor of Adverse Outcomes After Autologous Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2020 Mar 25. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.12570. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32212263
- Song JY, Egan C, Bouska AC, Zhang W, Gong Q, Venkataraman G, Herrera AF, Chen L, Ottesen R, Niland JC, Bedell V, Valle-Catuna M, Murata-Collins J, Weisenburger DD, Iqbal J, Jaffe ES, Chan WC. Genomic characterization of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma transformation of nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma. Leukemia. 2020 Feb 13. doi: 10.1038/s41375-020-0739-7. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 32054999
- Frigault MJ, Armand P, Redd RA, Jeter E, Merryman RW, Coleman KC, Herrera AF, Dahi P, Nieto Y, LaCasce AS, Fisher DC, Ng SY, Odejide OO, Freedman AS, Kim AI, Crombie JL, Jacobson CA, Jacobsen ED, Wong JL, Bsat J, Patel SS, Ritz J, Rodig SJ, Shipp MA, Chen YB, Joyce RM. PD-1 blockade for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after autologous stem cell transplantation. Blood Adv. 2020 Jan 14;4(1):122-126. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2019000784. PMID: 31917843