ucihealth.org
Hematology-Oncology
lung cancer, immunotherapy, phase 1 drug development
Dr. Miguel A. Villalona-Calero is a UCI Health medical oncologist who specializes in lung cancer, early phase clinical trials, the use of genomic-driven therapies and immune system treatments to target cancer.
An internationally regarded expert in lung cancer and developmental therapeutics, Villalona-Calero serves as deputy director of the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive cancer center. As chief of the UC Irvine School of Medicine's Division of Hematology-Oncology, he leads a faculty of more than 70 hematologists and oncologists, including nationally know specialists in many types of cancer.
He earned his medical degree from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena in the Dominican Republic, followed by an internship and internal medicine residency at Kings County Hospital Center and the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn. He completed fellowships in medical oncology at the University of Minnesota Hospitals & Clinics in Minneapolis and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
He also received fellowship training at the University of Texas’ Institute for Drug Development in San Antonio and in health policy leadership at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in New York City. Before joining UCI Health, he served as director of an early phase therapeutics program at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif.
Villalona-Calero is widely known for his work in lung cancer and developmental therapeutics, including the design of more effective anticancer agents. His main area of expertise is in translating laboratory science developments into clinical trials for cancer patients. Most recently, his focus has been on targeting cellular deficiencies in DNA repair and finding new ways to use the immune system to attack cancer cells.
The author or co-author of more than 140 peer-reviewed publications, Villalona-Calero has been inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has led dozens of clinical trials, including early phase studies funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He currently leads a phase 1 clinical trial for non-small cell lung cancer using enhanced natural killer cells, part of a prestigious NCI and NIH R01 grant for developmental cell therapeutics.
Villalona, who is fluent in English and Spanish, sees patients in Irvine and Orange.
