Dr. Elizabeth Pando is a pancreatic surgeon at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), where she leads the National Reference Center (CSUR) for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer and coordinates the institutional program dedicated to this disease.

She completed advanced training in pancreatic surgery through fellowships at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and observerships at Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, both leading centers in complex pancreatic surgery. Her career combines high-volume surgical practice with clinical and translational research, with a strong focus on advanced pancreatic cancer.

Her main research lines include acute pancreatitis, where she applied artificial intelligence to predictive models, and pancreatic adenocarcinoma, where she has acted as principal investigator in institutional and multicenter studies, including the international PELICAN trial for locally advanced disease.

She also collaborates with the Gastrointestinal Cancer Group at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in translational projects on molecular and experimental aspects of pancreatic cancer. This includes laboratory research, biomarker development, and biology-driven clinical trials, such as a phase II study on individualized RNA vaccines with immunotherapy in resected patients.

Dr. Pando is committed to advancing surgical innovation and translational strategies to improve outcomes for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.