Rafael Fonseca, MD
Rafael Fonseca, MD, is the Getz Family Professor of Cancer, Professor of Medicine, Chief Innovation Officer, and a consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He is a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors and Board of Trustees. He earned his MD at Universidad Anahuac, Mexico. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Miami, FL, and a fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN. He was named a Clinical Investigator for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund. Der. Fonseca has previously served as Site Director for Hematological Malignancies (MCA), Deputy Director from the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
MCA), Associate Director for the Center of Individualized Medicine (MCA), Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine (MCA), and interim Director of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (Enterprise). He has been a member of the MCA Executive Operations team since 2012. He is a visiting healthcare fellow at the Goldwater Institute. Dr Fonseca’s practice has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of plasma cell disorders and leading the multiple myeloma team in its efforts to develop a better understanding of the disease and its impact on patients. In his laboratory, Dr Fonseca has led his team of researchers regarding the genetic nature of clonal cells of plasma cell disorders, myeloma bone disease, prognostic markers, and development of new therapies for the disease. He is an active participant and leader of myeloma clinical trials. He also has sserved as consultant to multiple companies including AbbVie, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Amgen, Apple, BMS/Celgene, GSK, Janssen, Karyopharm, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Caris Life Sciences, and a member of the Board of Directors for Antengene. Throughout his training and career, Dr Fonseca has received numerous awards and honors, including the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award, and the International Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Research Award. He is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator, the highest academic distinction given to investigators at his institution. In 2024 he was inducted into the Giants of Cancer Care hall. He was awarded in 2023 the Cyril-Rozman prizze by the Spanish Society of hematology and Hematotherapy. He was awarded a Doctor honoris causa by the University of Tucuman in Argentina. Dr Fonseca holds memberships and has served in positions for organizations such as the ASCO, ASH and the International Myeloma Society. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (R01, P01, SPORE, CPTAC U01), the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund, Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation and others. Dr Fonseca serves as reviewer and in editorial capacities for medical publications including Blood, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Leukemia, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others.
He has given many national and international presentations as a visiting professor, and has authored numerous articles. He has 400 publications with an associated H index of 129 with 64,965 citations (Google Scholar June 2024)
