Head of the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Unit at HUG, Marc Ansari has worked in the medical field for more than 15 years, more particularly in the fields of pediatric oncology and hematology and genetics. In 2011, he founded the CANSEARCH Foundation and the research platform at the University of Geneva. Since January 1, 2013, he has been Head of the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Unit at HUG. In November 2015, he was appointed Professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Geneva.

An ES graduate as a biomedical analysis technician, Montserrat Alvarez has 10 years of experience in research laboratories (HUG and CMU), mainly in the field of immunology. After working 2 years in Japan, in the nephrology department of the Juntendo University Hospital, she returned to Geneva where she worked 6 years in cancer immunopharmacology, before joining the CANSEARCH research platform, in October 2023.

Montserrat masters most laboratory techniques, and more particularly, histology, cell culture, flow cytometry, molecular biology, the ELISA technique, killing assays, or even mouse models. Within the CANSEARCH platform, Montserrat participates in various research projects as well as in the management of the Geneva pediatric onco-hematology biobank (BaHoP) of the Geneva University Hospitals.

Frédéric Baleydier received a training in pediatric onco-hematology and immunology in France (IHOP, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital-Necker-Enfants-Malades, Assistance-Publique Hôpitaux de Paris), supplemented by a scientific background in Paris and Boston in the USA (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School).

He was a senior physician in pediatric hemato-oncology in Lyon (IHOP, Hospices Civils de Lyon) then in the United Kingdom in Bristol (Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, University Hospitals Bristol) before joining the HUG pediatric onco-hematology team in September 2016.

With a doctorate in Molecular Genetics and Physiology from Blaise Pascal University (France), Aurore Britan-Wood joined the CANSEARCH research platform in pediatric oncology and hematology at the University of Geneva in February 2022, where she manages clinical studies. Since 2023, Aurore has also been the operational and financial director of the platform as well as the operational director of the BaHop biobank.

Aurore worked for several years in fundamental research at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva and at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, where she acquired expertise in bioinformatics, biocuration and human protein databases. After obtaining the Diploma of Continuing Education in Clinical Trial Management at the University of Geneva, she joined the HUG Clinical Research Center in November 2018 as a scientific collaborator, where she participated in the coordination of the deployment of the General Consent to Research at HUG, in its follow-up, as well as in the management of various clinical studies carried out at HUG. She was also part of the Data Management team, thus managing data from numerous clinical studies, in compliance with all laws and regulations related to Good Clinical Trial Practices (ICH-GCP).

Aurore has been a member of the Geneva Cantonal Commission on the Ethics of Human Research (CCER) since 2021 and has also been a member of the data management platform of the Swiss Organization for Clinical Trials (SCTO).

Lara Chavaz is a pediatric intern, currently in her third year of training. After obtaining her medical degree at the University of Geneva, she spent two years in general pediatrics before joining the CANSEARCH research platform in November 2024 for a year of research. In this context, she received the BERC grant to conduct a project focused on the study of genetic factors associated with post-treatment hearing complications (ototoxicity) in child cancer survivors, under the supervision of Dr. Yvonne Gloor and Prof. Marc Ansari. At the same time, she completed her medical doctorate on the reactivation of cytomegalovirus (CMV) after stopping letermovir prophylaxis in stem cell transplant patients. His career is also marked by several research projects dedicated to childhood brain tumors carried out within the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Unit at HUG.